Aloha (2015)

Cameron Crowe is one of my favorite directors. He never fails to put a smile on my face, even if it's my 15th time watching the same film of his (Jerry Maguire). But with 'Aloha', it doesn't seem like his film at all. In fact, at times the film seems as though it's 3 different projects jumbled into one. Aloha was one of my most anticipated films this year, and with a cast that includes the likes of Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, and Emma Stone, I didn't think there was any way this film would let me down. Boy, I was wrong. The trailer was fantastic. It had great music, great character drama, and a beautiful landscape, that's the makings of a great Crowe film. Unfortunately it was a bland and forgettable as a film can be. If you cant get a good film with all of the great things on your side, than there's something going on here.

I heard there was some serious behind the scene issues with Aloha. Ones that took Crowe out of the promoting of the film and even Sony's lack of marketing for the project. I mean there was only one trailer, ONE. I never bought into the Emma Stone-Bradley Cooper fling. I saw a reviewer talk about how her character thinks she's in a Will Ferrell comedy at first until toning it down later on, and that's completely true. The two seem like they are playing characters from different movies and somehow their dialogue matched up.



 The whole side story of setting up satellites with Bill Murray was a waste of time. I think if the film focused on Cooper's past with Rachel McAdams, who Is the best part of the film, rather than forcing us into a relationship with Emma Stone, it would have been much better. I love Emma Stone as much as the next guy but the chemistry just wasn't there. Poor Emma Stone, with her perfectly round eyes, gets to play a 1/4 Hawaiian, 1/4 Chinese person named Ng. Even worse, she gets to act daffy (pretty well), tough (not believable), comradely (not even close), and sentimental with kids/love/mystical Havaii (cookie cutter).  Plus, the way the characters are written, Cooper is much better off going after a woman like McAdams than Stone. Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin have some laugh worthy moments but the trailer sold the film much differently.

Cameron Crowe seems to have a driving need to examine interpersonal relationships and what causes some to work, while others falter. His film classics Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous are impressive, but also many years in the past. The last fifteen years have produced Crowe projects that teeter between optimism and outright sap.

Crowe's film is overstuffed with too many undeveloped sub-plots and characters that rarely make sense. They're all strung together and just lei there (pardon the pun). The film wants to welcome its movie-going audience with open arms; to be funny, loving, and warm all over. Yet there is an underlying desperate need to please, as when any tourist arrives on the island to its fanfare of insincere but beautifully staged welcomes. Aloha, unlike the actual word itself, can't have it both ways.

5.3/10·IMDb
19%·Rotten Tomatoes
40%·Metacritic
6/10