Some thoughts

A lot of people won't know the history, but if you do, it's pretty great, really.

Finally someone took advantage of all Hearst Castle has to offer for filming.

The black and white film is cool. Makes it sort of a reverse Citizen Kane.

The script is extremely clever, perhaps too much so. I suspect this is one film Fincher made for himself, not caring that much if people understand all of it. In my case, I provided a running commentary to the film, explaining things to the others in the room. Maybe the pop-up video people will do a version one day.

All that said, there are several scenes that could never have happened. Mayer thought little of writers and probably would never have known any of their names or allowed any of them at his dinner table, so there's a lot of dramatic license in some of those scenes.

The could have made Mayer look more like he really did.

But I love all these films like this - Babylon, RKO 281, Cat's Meow and the George Clooney one - that explore the golden age of Hollywood, and hope for lots more.