Beatty’s ‘Rules’ — an uneven but amusing 1950s portrait

Written and directed by Warren Beatty, the movie benefits from Beatty’s memory of the era depicted, the late 1950s and early ’60s, as well as his fidelity to it.

The clothing, the hairstyles, the color stock, the eyebrows on the lead actress Lily Collins, the baggy sports jacket and tie on Alden Ehrenreich all scream circa 1960.

Collins does not look like a modern movie star, but she looks a lot like Jean Simmons.

“Rules Don’t Apply” tells the story of Marla, a religious young woman from Virginia, who is brought out to Hollywood in 1959 to become part of Hughes’ stock company.

The idea is that she has been hired to appear in a film and also to write songs, but weeks go by without a meeting with Hughes.

Even when the movie starts to drag, he is always interesting to watch.

Beatty, as screenwriter, sets up what seems to be a story of young love, set against a background that’s bizarre and yet meticulously detailed.

Fortunately, Beatty is so good at playing mental illness — he’s even better here than he was in “Bugsy” — that he saves the movie.

Beatty is probably who people will be talking about after seeing “Rules Don’t Apply,” but I suspect they’ll be thinking about Collins, who is memorable as a young woman bruised by the Hollywood machine.

Collins has the movie’s best moments, which are quiet moments: A skillfully accomplished drunk scene, not to mention two renditions of the title song, which is better the second time you hear it.