A deeply compelling movie but...

Rating: 8/10 (27 June 2005)

Dicaprio is at best, the most convincing in this award winning epic, during the earlier years. For me he just fell short of the mark, as he matured, there seemed to still be a petulance about his character portrayal, that I just couldn't buy into. I imagine after reading about the real Howard Hughes, that he would have been a tad different, possibly a little more macho. Cate, well she is a hard act to follow, and she really had me convinced that she was actually Kate Hepburn, except in that one last scene where she was at the door pleading with Hughes. I saw that mellow side emerge that is Cate, not Kate!! Overall a magnificent portrayal, no one could of done the job better.
Alec Baldwin, of course as Juan did not disappoint, he plays the part of a stinker so well, and Alan Alda certainly has come into his own as well, a far cry from the days of MASH, as I saw no conniving clown, with a big heart in the performance.
Gwen Sefani, hmmmm the less said the better there, I think the smoke lady was more interesting. It did disappoint me to learn that Hughes was a playboy, who like to playboy with boys, Errol Flynn and Cary Grant, that took away quite a deep respect for the overall movie, and I found it hard to see it as an epic with distinction. Leonardo I personally feel, needs to find the more mature side to his character now, and tune into that, his days of whining school boy are not becoming, to a man who could be not just a good actor, but a top of his class actor...Time will tell.
Overall, a fascinating flick, the planes, the corporate wrangling, made for interesting scenario's, but I am not much into blatant playboy stuff. But then again DiCaprio will find it hard to top his performance in Titanic, and that could be half the problem. Enjoyable, but my head is still stuck on the HMS Surprise :)