Serving as the first directorial outing from Warren Beatty in eighteen years, Rules Don't Apply is a romantic comedy/drama about two young lovers - a rising Hollywood starlet named Virginia (Lily Collins, The Blind Side) and would-be entertainment industry mogul Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenrich, Hail, Caesar!) - whose flirtations are cut short by their boss: the notorious Howard Hughes (Beatty). Considering that Rules Don't Apply is the first movie directed by Beatty since his 1998 political satire Bulworth, longtime fans of the aging film icon will no doubt be giving this project some notice upon its theatrical release in November.

Howard Hughes' storied legacy as an American entrepreneur, influential aviator, acclaimed filmmaker, and social eccentric has provided for dramatic fodder in movies past - most notably, in the Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese biopic, The Aviator, which was released in 2004. Just what aspects of Hughes' character will be put on full display in Beatty's Rules Don't Apply remains to be seen, though the final trailer hints at the kind of character Hughes may yet prove to be in the film.

In the footage featured above, distributor 20th Century Fox teases audiences with a final look at Rules Don't Apply in what is being promoted as more of a comedy of errors - plus a little Hollywood romance on the side - with all of the emotional idiosyncrasies and personal failings of Howard Hughes on full display. Beatty appears to be in full control of what could be seen as a sappy coming of age comedy, and plays the part of Hughes with a relish and recklessness largely in keeping with the real life person's historical biography.

Rules Don't Apply Final Trailer

Instead of opting for a taut dramatic tragedy like that previously seen in Scorsese's The Aviator, Beatty's Rules Don't Apply presents Hughes as something of an aging fool - despite his womanizing past and obsessive compulsive behaviors that often make him percieved as being a little crazy. Whether or not Beatty as Hughes will ultimately bar the two young lovers from finding their own happily ever after with one another, well, moviegoers will just have to check out the actual film and find out.

Beatty's outstanding reputation as an Oscar-winning filmmaker of yesteryear should serve Rules Don't Apply well when it comes to attracting awards season attention in early 2017 - and it might be a minor hit at the box office, too. There are perhaps a few too many narrative cliches presented by the movie's basic premise, but in Beatty's performance as Howard Hughes there's something undeniably exceptional at work throughout.    

Rules Don't Apply will see theatrical release in the U.S. on November 23rd, 2016.

Source: 20th Century Fox