A very worthy film

Rating: 8/10 (23 June 2005)

I was fairly familiar with the life of Howard Huges going into the film, and knowing the oddities I had very little expectation for this film. Add to that a very overrated actor in Leo Decaprio and I'm surprised I ever sat down to watch it.
I'm glad I did.
The film does a great job throughout of managing functional HH versus dysfunctional HH. It emphasizes the mental defects but does not allow it to take over the film until the very end (much as it took over HH's life in the very end). I was very surprised at the acting for the film. Leo does as great job as do both the K(C)ates (Blanchette and Beckinsale). I did further research into Howard after seeing the film to see how well they did with capturing his likeness, which again, was pulled off very well. Alan Alda also does a great job as the misguided senator.
The downsides to this film are that it moves through things too quickly and skips over several major events late in Howard's life. Unless they were to make this a Trilogy (thank god they didn't) I don't see how they avoid that. Howard did own a whole separate airline after he was forced out of TWA, not to mention completely derailing RKO studios. He moved to Mexico before he died, and all of these things were overlooked. Regardless and excellent film, one of the better historical pieces of recent times.