Movie · 2016 · Romance, Comedy, Drama · 2h 7m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.8/10 (13K ratings)
Overview
The unconventional love story of an aspiring actress, her ambitious driver, and their eccentric boss, the legendary billionaire Howard Hughes.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.8/10
IMDb: 5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%
Metacritic: 60
TMDB: 5.7/10
Director
Warren Beatty
Production
Tatira, Shangri-La Entertainment, New Regency Pictures, Demarest Films, Considered Entertainment, Robson Orr Entertainment
Cast
Warren Beatty, Lily Collins, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Broderick, Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, Haley Bennett, Candice Bergen, Dabney Coleman, Ed Harris, Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Oliver Platt, Amy Madigan, Taissa Farmiga, Michael Badalucco, Steve Coogan, Megan Hilty, Paul Schneider, Chace Crawford
Curator Review
Verdict
A messy but intriguing Hollywood romance with flashes of wit, period texture, and a surprisingly sharp look at power, vanity, and longing. It’s worth it if you’re open to a deliberately eccentric, uneven film that feels more fascinating than polished.
Best for
Viewers who like flawed but ambitious studio-era throwbacks
Fans of Hollywood stories about money, power, and image
People who don’t mind tonal shifts between romance, comedy, and drama
Viewers curious about late-career passion projects with messy energy
Skip if
You want tight, elegant storytelling
You’re sensitive to choppy editing or narrative drift
You prefer romance plots that stay emotionally centered
You need a clean tonal identity from scene to scene
Overview
Rules Don’t Apply is one of those movies that feels as if it were assembled from competing impulses: a backstage romance, a Howard Hughes character study, a Hollywood satire, and a wistful period piece. The result is uneven, but not inert. There’s real charm in the performances and a nagging sense that a stranger, richer film is trying to break through the seams.
Worth noting
What lingers most is its fascination with power and performance. The movie keeps circling the way Hollywood turns people into fantasies, then traps them inside those fantasies. That gives the film a melancholy edge beneath the comedy, even when the plotting gets muddy or the editing feels aggressively scrambled.
Bottom line
It’s not a clean recommendation, but it is a distinctive one. If you like big, imperfect studio films with old-school ambition and a little self-destructive glamour, this has enough personality to justify the ride.
Top Letterboxd reviews
SCHIZO BAILEY, FBI (2.5★) · 288 likes
I'm Warren Beatty. Here's a dialogue scene, now here's a Congress sce-- actually, no, it's a sex scen-- no, wait, it's a romantic sce-- Gugh! I've got it, here's my comedic Oscar monologue sce-- actually, I would rather highlight the beauty and talent that is Lily Collins in this scen-- Wait, wait, I should highlight how crazy crazy Howard Hughes wa-- Time to impregnate someone!!
Yes, the editing is that patronisingly muddy.
#1 gizmo fan (3★) · 264 likes
alright which one of the FOUR editors is responsible for the first 45 minutes? prison NOW
SilentDawn (4.5★) · 179 likes
85
Kind of stunned by this! Offers a peculiar balance of quirky melodrama and an incisive look at hollywood power dynamics. It feels like every scene is roughly twenty seconds long, and any moment that does slow down only amplifies the mystery at hand. Weird and lovely.
David Sims (4★) · 158 likes
this movie is basically the best even though it feels like it was edited by Howard Hughes
caitlin (2★) · 133 likes
this is NOT the Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich union we deserve but I'm GLAD she got her golden globe nom because she is THE unsung talent of this century also WHY was this movie like fourteen hours long this is NOT what rome is about we should totally just STAB CAESAR!!!