Originally Posted by tritium_pie,Feb 14 2005, 11:52 PM

this movie did NOT live up to it's billing. I found myself checking my watch several times during this long movie (3 hrs). sure there were some cool scenes, but in terms of character development, struggle, denouement, you-name-it... it didn't have it. it's pretty much just a focus on Howard Hughes' life... what he did, who he did, and most especially, how all his friggin money buys-- wow!-- so friggin much! he can just buy his way out of anything.



if you don't want me to give up the *cough*cough* ahem... plot then stop reading here. otherwise....





here's a summary of the movie:





rich kid spends way too much money making a Hollywood movie. like a ridiculous amount, but it doesn't matter, because f*ck man, he's RICH.

rich kid gets whatever girl he wants, naturally.

rich kid gets into airplanes. decides to make a fast ass plane. spends way to much money, but it doesn't matter because... yep, he's rich.

rich kid... now a rich guy... starts to go a little crazy.

rich guy gets a movie actress.

rich guy gets into commercial airlines... makes a few bad decisions... but hey, nothing a little extra money from the inherited business can't fix right?

rich guy has a few mostly meaningless relationships with other women. including a 15-yr old. hey... he is rich, after all.

rich guy is pretty f*ckin obsessive-compulsive at this point. and schitzo. doesn't matter... did I mention... oh yeah I did... the "R" word.

so the moral of this movie is: if you're rich, you can do a lot and people look up to you, and if you're Howard Hughes' kind of rich, you're so rich that even rich people can't really f*ck with you.

so be rich. especially if you can inherit riches, because that's the best kind for making more riches.

the ONLY people who developed, changed and grew in this movie were the BACKGROUND people! the people whose characters were least explored seemed most human. the rest were just caricatures of the rich and powerful. there was no struggle, no growth, no life lessons, nothing.

this movie was just a slice of a rich man's life. that's it. "now check out the next crazy thing this rich guy did!" I can almost hear Martin Scorsese saying in the background. no introspection what-so-ever. you will not leave the theatre with a deeper understanding of a damn thing. all you will know is... that money means you can do a whole lotta crazy stuff and if you have enough money, it doesn't even matter how poorly thought out that crazy stuff is.

jezus. I've read more enjoyable biographies on Howard Hughes for free on the 'net. this movie... well, it only had some moderately cool scenes. some. moderately.

why did they even release this movie for the general public to see? well that's easy! because Martin Scorsese wants to be even more rich! same with Leo DiCaprio! (who, admittedly, did a pretty good job. and I don't like Leo, generally)

if you're filthy f*ckin rich, go see this movie for some pointers on how you can spend your wealth extravagantly.