By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Watching “Rules Don’t Apply” reminded me of when Elizabeth Taylor died. I was chatting with another critic at a Manhattan screening when the twentysomething publicist asked, “Who’s Elizabeth Taylor?”
After years of gestation, Warren Beatty has created an absurdly nostalgic farce about aviation tycoon/film producer Howard Hughes. But do moviegoers remember either of them?
Beatty’s story begins with “Never check an interesting fact,” a quote attributed to Howard Hughes, known for being the most eccentric, elusive executive in Hollywood, as shown in the 1964 prologue.
Flash back to 1958, when an aspiring actress, virginal Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins), arrives in Hollywood from Virginia with her devoutly Baptist mother (Annette Bening). Marla soon discovers she’s only one of many starlets summoned by Hughes and paid $400 a week to ‘stand by’ for RKO Pictures auditions.
After Marla’s assigned driver, Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich), a pious Methodist with a fiancée in Fresno, recites the strict rules of her contract, he admits he’s never actually met Hughes, although he’s eager to get the mercurial mogul to invest in a real estate deal he’s devised.
As time goes by, Marla gets involved with weirdly obsessive-compulsive Hughes (Warren Beatty), wistfully warbling the title song, as Frank becomes one of Hughes’ most trusted aides. But necessity cools their incipient romance until they both become disappointed by Hughes’ bizarre dream factory.
Scripted by director Beatty from a story he wrote with Bo Goldman, it’s as elegant and enigmatic as its subject. Perhaps more autobiographical than Beatty cares to admit, since he and his sister, Shirley MacLaine, were raised by Baptists in Virginia. But that’s just conjecture.
Charismatic Beatty also receives support from Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Martin Sheen and Candice Bergen.
Wall Street’s Steven Mnuchin, President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, does a cameo with Oliver Platt, playing financiers kept waiting at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Other films about Howard Hughes include “The Aviator” (2004), “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1988), “Melvin and Howard” (1980) and “Caught” (1949).
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Rules Don’t Apply” is a stylish, yet stilted 6, inevitably culminating in disillusionment.
“Miss Sloane” about corrupt lobbyists couldn’t be timelier, so it’s a shame that John Madden’s dense political melodrama is only mediocre.
Ruthlessly ambitious strategist Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is one of Washington D.C.’s most powerful power brokers. As her story begins, she’s being interrogated by a senior Senator (John Lithgow) about ethical misconduct.
Flashback a few months – to the situation that impelled this investigation.
For a client in Indonesia, Sloane successfully turned a play-for-pay politician’s ‘research’ trip into the vote that doomed a proposed import-tariff on palm oil – which she referred to as a “Nutella tax.”
Then, inexplicably, flipping her stance on gun control, Sloane impulsively quit her job with an NRA-supporter (Sam Waterston) to join a fledging boutique firm that’s pushing for universal background checks for firearms purchases, tackling the gun lobby’s support of the Second Ammendment.
To the delight of her idealistic new boss (Mark Strong), Elizabeth brings most of her young staff with her, except reluctant Jane Molloy (Alison Pill) who refuses to be poached.
Wheeling and dealing on Capitol Hill, Elizabeth eschews any personal life, preferring to hire a hunky ‘escort’ (Jake Lacy) to satisfy her sexual needs.
Determined to ‘win’ at all cost, Elizabeth eventually crosses the line by manipulating one of her protégés (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), forcing the young woman to face an episode of gun violence in her past.
Novice screenwriter Jonathan Perera crams far too much talky confusion into this cautionary tale – which becomes so convoluted and contrived that even director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) can’t unscramble it.
In addition, it becomes increasingly impossible to empathize with Elizabeth, which differentiates this role from the similarly dedicated character that Chastain played in “Zero Dark Thirty.”
On the Granger Gauge, “Miss Sloane” is a flat 5, despite its formidable leading lady.
Over the years, Billy Bob Thornton’s contemptible “Bad Santa” has become a comedic antidote to Yuletide treacle. But this sequel is a cold lump of wet coal.
Safecracking, alcoholic Willie Soke (Thornton) is having a really bad day when his old crony, Marcus (Tony Cox), sends cash, a cell-phone and an offer to rework their Christmas robbery scam in Chicago. Problem is: Marcus betrayed him, so how can Willie trust him again?
In Willie’s world, greed triumphs good sense, so he heads to the Windy City, where Marcus reveals that the real mastermind of the operation is Willie’s estranged mother, larcenous Sunny Soke (Kathy Bates).
Sunny volunteers at a Salvation Army-like charity run by Diane (Christina Hendricks) and her husband (Ryan Hansen). They provide shelter for homeless men, sending them out as Santa Clauses to solicit money during the holiday season. The $2 million heist is scheduled during the Christmas Eve Concert.
Complicating matters, now-grown, yet still cherubic Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly) still worships cantankerous Willie, following him to Chicago so he won’t spend Christmas alone.
New screenwriters try to replicate what made the original script click – although, certainly, audience appetite for rancid, R-rated humor has changed since 2003 – yet director Mark Walters can’t reproduce Terry Zwigoff’s crass, maniacal nastiness.
Furthermore, it boggles the mind that three Academy Award-winners (Thornton, Bates and Octavia Spencer) have stooped this low.
On the Granger Gauge, “Bad Santa 2” is a disappointing 2, proving that politically incorrect vulgarity isn’t always funny.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
