the film is realized quite well, and Beatty's return to the director's chair ends up being an odd and erratic effort that perfectly mirrors Hughes himself
sometimes overstuffed and sometimes underdeveloped, it is a curio that means it never becomes a must see movie and instead sits comfortably in the watchable zone
Rules Don't Apply, as handsomely shot and as screwball enjoyable as it is at times, shows that Beatty's revolutionary streak is currently out of touch with our times
"Rules" feels considerably tamer than Beatty's own acting debut, "Splendor in the Grass," which occurred just as Hollywood was undergoing both a creative and sexual revolution not yet in evidence here