Why’d it Bomb? Rules Don’t Apply (2016)

Kevthewriter wonders why Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply bombed.

Poor Warren Beatty. He used to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world and now he’s most well-known for mixing up La La Land and Moonlight. Of course, he did try to have a comeback last year. Unfortunately, it was Rules Don’t Apply, a movie that bombed horribly at the box office and received mixed to negative reviews from critics and audiences basically ignored altogether. You know how much they ignored it? Well, when I went to see it, I was literally the only person in the theater. Then, when I went to review the movie on the blog, it hardly had any views and no one commented on it. I’m not admonishing you for ignoring my review, don’t get me wrong, I’m just pointing out how little people cared about this movie.

But why did no one care about this movie? I think the problem was there was no real incentive for people to care about it. It was touted as Warren Beatty’s big comeback and also the movie about Howard Hughes he’d been trying to make for over 30 years. Problem is, Warren Beatty hasn’t acted in a decade and has barely been in the spotlight for 15 years. Thing is, though, the man has always been picky. Just a look at his IMDB shows a rather big gap between projects. In the 90’s, for instance, he only starred in 4 movies, all of which, from 1990-1998, came out within a few years of each other. And in the 80’s, he was only in 2 movies. But even by his standards, 15 years is a long time to wait when it comes to making another movie. By that point, I think the majority of people went from thinking “whatever happened to Warren Beatty?” to just assuming he retired to basically forgetting he ever was a big star in the first place. Therefore, when he finally made the Howard Hughes movie he always wanted to make, people were just indifferent to it.

Now I’m not saying that if you don’t act for years, or decades, you should just stay in retirement. I’m just saying you also shouldn’t just expect people to go see a movie because you’re in it. Look at all the big comeback stories when it comes to movies: Carrie, The Wrestler, Birdman. They weren’t just popular because an actor who used to be famous was acting and/or in a starring role again but because the movies themselves were considered great and, because of positive word of mouth, many people went to see those movies. As a result, Piper Laurie, Mickey Rourke, and Michael Keaton became famous again (though it didn’t last for Mickey Rourke because, well, he acted like Mickey Rourke but oh well…). On the other hand, look at Snatched, starring Warren Beatty’s friend Goldie Hawn. She, like Warren, hadn’t been in a movie for 15 years but, instead of being a big comeback vehicle for her, the movie came and went because the movie itself received negative reviews.

Same thing with Rules Don’t Apply. Had the reviews been better, more people might’ve come out to see it but, because the reviews weren’t hot, people stayed away. It also didn’t help that, while the movie had many celebrities in it, none of them were box office draws. It definitely didn’t help that the two young people he got to star in the movie, Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich, aren’t exactly big names (though that might change for Alden with the Han Solo movie).

Therefore, the reason Rules Don’t Apply bombed is because Warren got too cocky and thought that, after 15 years of being out of the limelight, he could sell a movie on his name alone when the truth is many people moved on from his brand and stopped caring whether or not he’d make another movie.

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Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Beatty hasn’t been relevant for almost 27 years… https://moviechat.org/tt1974420/Rules-Dont-Apply/58c885c3d1ea5c147075973c/Beatty-hasnt-been-relevant-for-almost-27-years [–] punish77 10 months ago I disagree with your statement that all of his movies except Roman Springs are “better than Bad Moms”. In fact, when Ishtar was released in 1987 it was considered up until that point the biggest bomb in movie history. Unfortunately, Ishtar was subsequently surpassed by (guess what) Town & Country (2001), which then became the biggest bomb in movie history. I think that Town & Country made about $6 million on a budget over $100 million. In fact, Ishtar and Town & Country are such infamous… Read more »

lebeau
Admin
6 years ago
Reply to  kevthewriter

If you haven’t seen Beatty’s earlier movies, you haven’t seen him at his best.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I’m kind of mystified regarding how Warren Beatty was considered a big star in the first place. Hopefully somebody can back me up on this, but he has only really has three hits (“Dick Tracy” was really more of a base-level hit) in movies that he headlined or was the top star, in the last 55 years: “Bonnie & Clyde”, “Shampoo”, and “Heaven Can’t Wait”. And plus, depending on your point of view, Beatty can be an awfully one-note actor. He virtually plays the same shy fella with a deer in the headlights look,in practically every movie!

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

For somebody who was considered an A-lister, Warren Beatty really has an unimpressive filmography when you get right down to it. He seems like the type of actor whose ego was so big that he could only take on “passion projects” and come out with a film film every 4-8 years.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  kevthewriter

I agree with the sentiment that most young people probably don’t know much about Warren Beatty prior to this year’s Oscars mix-up. He isn’t like say Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford, other leading men from Beatty’s generation turned directors/producers. But unlike them, I get the feeling that Beatty still thinks that he could cut it as a leading man without much reservations. To give you an idea, Beatty from my understanding, plays Howard Hughes circa 1958, when he was about 53 years old (a good 25 years younger than Warren Beatty in real life).

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I knew that something was wrong with Warren Beatty when I learned about his petty and selfish hoarding of the Dick Tracy film rights.
http://comicsalliance.com/2008-dick-tracy-tv-special/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdFbiRK-UaY

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

With Warren Beatty, the ends simply don’y justify the means (that’s the ultimate downside towards being a perfectionist). As I alluded to prior, most of his movies (at least his post-“Reds” stuff) always seem to go over-budget and take forever to complete. For whatever the reasons many of his stuff post-1981 doesn’t really resonate with audiences.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2016-2/rules-dont-apply/ Warren Beatty’s long in development Howard Hughes project was moving forward at Paramount, with co-financing from New Regency, but Paramount backed out in September 2011. Morgan Creek stepped in to fill the financial vacancy left by Paramount, but they quickly dropped out after negotiations stalled to reduce the budget from $47 million to $42 million. Morgan Creek also stopped development on all projects after their pricey disaster Dream House (2011) tanked and have not operated since. New Regency head Arnon Milchan kept Beatty’s passion project alive and arranged the financing through 15 billionaires and gazillionaires, at a reduced cost… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Why Hollywood won’t cast Warren Beatty anymore http://www.nickiswift.com/118687/hollywood-wont-cast-warren-beatty-anymore/ Warren Beatty is among the handful of living actors we could call a screen legend. The man born Henry Beaty (and the younger brother of Shirley MacLaine) has been a silver-screen idol for more than 50 years, starring in classic movies such as Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Bugsy, Heaven Can Wait, Dick Tracy, and more. He’s also a writer, director, and producer, notably wearing all of those hats to make the 1981 epic Reds, which somehow won a slew of Oscars despite being a sympathetic story about Communism released at the peak of… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Why was Warren Beatty never very productive in his film career? Even in his peak years during the seventies, he only did seven films. Did his dithering over projects only get worse as he got older?

Beatty was never very productive, and even in his peak years during the seventies he only did seven films. His dithering over projects only got worse as he got older, so he was never going to let himself be rediscovered by audiences. Even Redford did a Marvel movie, so it could have happened.

Gluserty
3 years ago

I’m good to go with Warren Beatty, due to the Leblog Bracket Game film “Bonnie and Clyde” (I will call it by that unwieldy title from now on), “$” (Dollars), “Shampoo”, “Dick Tracy” (I’ve commented on here about my feelings for the Tracy flick), “Bugsy” (I prefer to call him Ben:-), and “Bulworth”. Yeah, that’s his rep though, that he moves along in the film industry at a glacial pace. He’s that guy who someone has to wake up at 4:30 AM to get them ready for work at 8 AM (Beatty’s gotta know that snooze button awful well), but… Read more »

Candice
Candice
2 years ago

I agree with basically everything that Terence Clay wrote. Beatty was overrated. I think Ryan O’Neal was both a better actor, and better looking. And compared to Beatty, Ryan O’Neal was probably a modest and unconceited guy. I think Beatty had a big ego. I agree that Beatty played “dump blondes.” He even gave an interview (either to the Village Voice or Ms. Magazine, I can’t remember, but maybe it was both publications), where when asked why he tended to play male dumb blondes, he defended it by saying that the films didn’t insult women or portray women as sex… Read more »

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