A sad, but true story of a great genius

Rating: 2/10 (7 February 2005)

Great idea, this, and fairly well executed, but the movie can't seem to make up it's mind about which way to go. Action, drama, psychological drama, storytelling or whatever... di Caprio performs OK, but he is not credible when he's supposed to depict the then 40-tears old Hughes, and no matter what the make-up dept. did to him, he still looks 23. Kate Blanchett and Alan Alda deliver outstanding performances, as does Matt Ross, and also Alec Baldwin does a better-than-average job. Plane crash sequences doesn't work well (most air scenes do, however), and the movie stops just as things get interesting. Many weird camera angles and abrupt cuts, and also quite a few tricks borrowed from Orson Welles (who performed them infinitely better). Not all computer animation works properly, and somehow, this movie is thoroughly clean. True, clean Hollywood scenery, sunsets, beaches, houses, etc. Even the blood and dirt in crash scene looks clean, and everything looks like a cake with too much icing. It just doesn't feel right.
Not quite a complete waste of time, but close.