Fairly good, but disappointing part in middle

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2004)

***SPOILER*** This is a fairly good film depicting the life of Howard Hughes. It could easily have done without the part two-thirds the way through where Hughes isolates himself and seems to go mad. Perhaps that really did happen, but it was not very entertaining. It was much more entertaining to see Hughes show up the senator. It was much more entertaining to see that Hughes finally did get the Spruce Goose to fly. It was very entertaining to see that both Ava Gardner and Katherine Hepburn remained friends with Hughes in spite of their difficulties.
The film answered a lot of my questions about Howard Hughes, especially why the government didn't like him. Perhaps he was a little mentally disturbed, but that aspect of his life is not entertaining and that is what films are for - entertainment.
DeCaprio did a much better job than I expected him to do. That is much to his credit. But the really great actor in this film was Cate Blanchet. Cate Blanchet is probably the finest actress today. This lady really seeks out difficult roles and does a great job acting them out. Kate Beckinsale did a fine job also, but Blanchet was absolutely superlative.