Shockingly poor biopic

Rating: 3/10 (1 January 2005)

Overly long, boring, badly acted and directed. Shocking how badly Martin Scorcese has fallen off, after triumphs such as Goodfellas not that many years ago. Leonardo DiCaprio is incapable of playing grown-up roles, as he continues to look like an overgrown infant even as he pushes thirty-something. I'm amazed at the gushing over Cate Blanchett's grotesque imitation of Katharine Hepburn- Frank Gorshin does a better one. And don't even get me started on Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, who was apparently a sexless, anorexic coat-hanger instead of a bombshell (much to my surprise). However, the greatest disappointment by far was Scorcese, who completely lost any semblance of a storyteller in favor of cheesy CGI effects and bogus dialog. Too bad, because Howard Hughes was a truly fascinating subject- a deeply neurotic multimillionaire, plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, but also a true visionary and aviation pioneer. This movie doesn't do him justice.