Good cast, pretentious movie.

Rating: 2/10 (14 September 2006)

Considering that this is an attempt to tell the story of just part of the life of one of the most enigmatic people who ever lived, it was a mistake to have even considered it in the first place. The cast, generally speaking, is excellent. The production values and art direction are extremely high. The script, in a word, stinks. This movie should have never been made. First of all, this film deals with only a small part of Howard Hughes' life. It seems fragmented and disjointed. There is no "beginning" to the story, we're just thrown into his life in the late 1920's and not given any background as to who this is and where he's from. The movie ends pretty much the same way. As what apparently is not said anymore in the movie business, what's the motivation? There doesn't seem to be any. We are treated to a somewhat clinical observation of a multi-millionaire and his various psychological exploits. This makes the character flat and a non-person. Some of the other characters such as Katherine Hepburn are given the same consideration. They are merely names and dates in history without personalities and depth. Is this what Mr. Scorsese actually intended? Is he tearing down these people or is he actually not aware of what was happening? On some level it could appear that he has a personal grudge against Howard Hughes and most of the rest of the characters because he doesn't bring out any dimension or humanity in these people. That's for minds more qualified than mine in psychology to delve into. I'm only writing my opinion about what I saw. Dramatic presentations about historical events and people are never accurate and so don't go into this film expecting the absolute truth. As is usual, they got the names and dates right but not the story. Howard Hughes was extremely complex, not normal by societal convention, and much more than just a megalomaniac womanizer as portrayed here by the inept, incredulous performance of DiCaprio. Rent this if you have the time to waste.