Good but not great.

Rating: 6/10 (9 January 2005)

I give this 6 star out of 10.
I would have given this 7 stars but the ending was not well done. I have to admit, I liked this movie although I did not want to since I cannot stand Di Caprio. That being said, he performed the part of Howard Hughes very well.
The movie focused on parts of Howard Hughes life I did not know about. Howard Hughes was a rich man who inherited a fortune from his parents' business of making machinery tools. He, however, was not interested in the tool business and came to Hollywood to make movies. While making movies, he became interested in aviation as a result of making the movie Hell Cats. He created the now-defunct airline TWA. He became embroiled in personal battle with Juan Trippe, who was the head of Pan Am Airways. The film also showed how Trippe used his influence with public officials to stop TWA from expanding its business into Pan Am territories. In between all these projects and battles, he had time to date many women including starlets.
I knew these facts, that I mentioned above, from seeing a documentary about him a while back but I did not know the intimate details of the relationship of some of these women he had relationship with and how his battle with Juan Trippe nearly drove him over the edge. Speaking of over the edge, I had no idea Howard Hughes had a huge OCD problem or obsessive compulsive behavior problem. This movie showed how this behavior became a constant thorn in his side.
I could go on and on but I really liked this movie and this is in spite of Di Caprio and also Alec Baldwin. Now the reason why I gave this a 6 rather than 7 or above is that the movie does not go further than early 1950's of his life. I want to know more. I think a good biography of a person should show his beginning and also the end. Maybe the creators of this movie did not want to make a long movie but it leaves movie goers with only a half view of his life.
Another thing I had problem with is the choice of actress to portray Ava Gardner. Ava Gardner was truly a stunning woman and the actress who portrayed her was pretty but does not come close to being on par with Gardner. With all the beautiful girls out there who are trying to make it into show business, couldn't the movie makers pick more beautiful actress to portray Gardner?