Call me a kook, but when I was a kid I first heard about Howard Hughes from the Yogi Bear Spruce Goose movie. He was a strange rich man who wasted a lot of money on a plane that wouldn’t fly, a HUGE plane, the biggest plane ever. There are two levels I look at this film on. On the one level, Scorsese’s level, we have the story told, the performance of the players, and the film, which is sound. This is a very entertaining film with characters that you can care for and root for, and the end result is a really great film about struggling against impossible odds to achieve your dreams. Beating McCarthy, building a flying Spruce Goose, and overcoming OCD.

There’s another level, though. The fact that if you look at it, this is just the story of a rich guy wasting a ton of money being a total ass to his family and friends. And it’s a statement that in this society, we love an eccentric guy like that. And he was a failure, to boot. The Spruce Goose hardly flew, few people remember him outside of the obsessed, there are many things that make the real story behind this not memorable.

Charles Bukowski lived poor, has a very interesting life story, and he has no bio pic yet. I resent that. I really do. There are many better choices for a subject of a biopic. Scorsese has made many great character studies, but this was a poor choice of subject.

But…but again, I say! We’re reviewing the movie he made, not the sociological implications behind it. And when it comes down to it, the man in this movie is not the man that was a fink in real life (though the character DiCaprio plays is undoubtedly flawed, he’s more boyishly flawed than mentally, and playful).

I sat riveted through the whole film, right to the end where it is implied that the Spruce Goose flew (instead of giving up the ghost soon after it took off). I enjoyed the battle of character. Scorsese knows how to single in on a person and make him whole. Incredible work outside of context.

• Jim Carrey was originally considered for the lead role as Howard Hughes.
• Production was delayed in October 2003, when wildfires in southern California burned several sets.
• Gwyneth Paltrow was originally signed on to play Ava Gardner but dropped out.
• Freckles were painstakingly painted onto Cate Blanchett's face, arms, and chest to make her resemble Katharine Hepburn.

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