Rules Don't Apply (2016 Warren Beatty and co-scr, prod)

'I always compare films like this to My Week With Marilyn, which always comes off best' I told Q. But by the end, we had a strong contender - we really enjoyed this, from a story written by Bo Goldman and Beatty. Young actress Lily Collins is under contract to the extremely nutty Howard Hughes (Beatty himself); gets involved with driver / entrepreneur Alden Ehrenreich (Hail Caesar - thought he looked familiar! - Blue Jasmine). The performances are great, and the film often doesn't go where you're expecting, with an emotional payoff involving a diamond ring and a child.

Production design and photography - Jeannine Oppewall and Caleb Deschanel- good. Some rather odd use of contemporary location footage (1964 - good year). Loved the title song, and the showdown between Broderick and Beatty.

With: Matthew Broderick, Annette Bening, Oliver Platt, Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, Haley Bennett, Paul Schneider, Ed Harris.

Seems to be rather unfairly slagged off.

P.S. 31/5/23. After reading the Mitchum book (Lee Server) this is exactly what Hughes was like, having girls stashed away all over the place to becoming 'actresses', many of whom didn't. And the ones like Jane Greer who did, but repelled his advances, were punished with non-work.