Warren Beatty makes charismatic comeback in uneven 'Rules Don't Apply'

Warren Beatty doesn't want us to regard “Rules Don't Apply,” in which he stars as Howard Hughes, as a Howard Hughes film. It's actually a movie about late '50s Hollywood, he says, and the sexual puritanism of the era.

Indeed, Beatty doesn't appear for a long while in this much-awaited film, which he co-wrote, directed and starred in. But come on - it's Warren Beatty, a legend who hasn't made a film for 15 years, playing America's most famous eccentric, controversial billionaire until ... well, until you know who. Of course, it's a Howard Hughes movie.

And that's not a bad thing, because whatever you think of the new film, Beatty at 79 retains much of that youthful charisma that's made him a Hollywood fixture for more than a half-century.

As for “Rules Don't Apply,” its many years in the making, brings together a who's who list of talent, looks gorgeous - and yet still feels strangely uneven and tonally confusing. But if you can get over that, it's undeniably entertaining.

It's Hollywood in 1958, and aspiring starlets are descending on the town, among them fresh-faced Baptist beauty queen Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins). She's been invited by the reclusive Hughes to audition for his RKO Pictures. Once there, her mother (the always-superb Annette Bening, being directed by her husband for the first time) gets the willies and suggests they leave, Marla insists on staying.

Marla's handsome driver is Frank Forbes (the earnest Alden Ehrenreich). When Marla complains she hasn't yet met Hughes, Frank admits he hasn't met him either.

Suddenly, Marla's ushered into a darkened hotel bungalow and served a TV dinner in tinfoil. Hughes appears, befuddled and amusing. He asks her name, plays some saxophone, barks into the phone to his subordinates. These include Matthew Broderick (having lots of fun as Hughes' chief driver), Candice Bergen as a personal assistant and Martin Sheen as Hughes' CEO.

The plot careens like a pinball between Hughes, Marla and Frank. Though falling for Marla, Frank is engaged to his hometown sweetheart. And Hughes, despite his own dalliances, has declared that drivers hitting on actresses will be fired.

Beautiful to look at, never less than engaging, sometimes inspired and sometimes just odd, the film shifts uneasily in tone. Yet it's distinctly watchable, even when perplexing us.

Is this Beatty's final big film? At this rate he'll be in his 90s for the next one. (And still look boyish.) All the more reason to appreciate this, foibles aside. Perhaps for a man with the pedigree and charisma of Warren Beatty, the rules really don't apply - and that's OK.