Disappointing fictional treatment of an epic story.

Rating: 2/10 (6 February 2007)

Anyone who has read any of the numerous biographies on the life of Howard Hughes, particularly Noah Dietrich's own best-seller, will do well to avoid this Hollywood pot-boiler because they will be mightily disappointed. The chutzpah of the makers in omitting huge chunks of the Hughes' story and the host of interesting and historical characters who impinged on Hughes' life, whilst embellishing relatively minor incidents is little short of breathtaking. The casting of the baby-faced DiCaprio as the central character is laughable - at no time does he even come close to close to capturing the essence of a man who was a giant of his times. About the only good thing that can be said about this film is that the few flying scenes are well done. But as an accurate portrayal of an American titan, forget about it - the earlier version starring Tommy Lee Jones is far superior.