Film Review - "Aloha"

Aloha

Director: Cameron Crowe

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin

Release: May 29, 2015

Running Time: 105 min

Plot Summary: After a career-ending misfire, military contractor Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) is given a second chance to get his life jump-started by being assigned a fairly-secretive mission in Hawaii. While there, he attempts to rekindle with his ex-girlfriend (McAdams) and please the wishes of his "boss" (Murray), all the while beginning to develop feelings for a fighter pilot named Allison Ng (Stone).

Rating: C

Review: I am that person. I'm the kind of guy who's obsessed with movies that I know will be good. I set my sights on next year's Oscar hopefuls before this year's nominations have even been announced. I worship Wikipedia's "[year] in film" pages, eager to find out what's coming out, who's in it, and why I should care.

I've been following this movie since it was regarded as "Untitled Cameron Crowe Project," and that was good enough for me. But then, I see that Bradley Cooper -- one of my favorite actors working today -- is attached to the project, as well as the charming Emma Stone and alluring Rachel McAdams, not to mention Bill Murray, and I was sold. When the trailer for this film dropped, I flipped. It was sentimental and compelling and intriguing, and I couldn't go 2 weeks without watching it to remind myself that this movie was going to be awesome.

...I am very sad about this movie, actually. This isn't a sad movie, at least it's not intended to be. It's actually got a pretty happy ending, and for that I'm grateful. Everything leading up to that ending, though, is almost insufferable. I absolutely HATE that I am writing these words; I want nothing more than to tell you that this movie is amazing and worthwhile and satisfying, but I can't lie like that. I just finished watching this movie an hour and a half ago and my thoughts haven't quite settled, but I think I'm confident enough in my feelings to write a cohesive review, so here's my best shot.

Every time I watch a movie in theaters, I leave either fully in love with the movie, or unsure about how I feel, which usually results in me telling myself that it was good. It's not healthy, but it's just the way I am. Most recently, I left Insurgent convinced that it was as good as my friends thought. 2 months later, I know that I like Insurgent, but I also know that it isn't as good as its predecessor, nor is it necessarily a good movie. I probably won't watch it much again, like I would the first Divergent film. But you get the gist, right? I either know I love a movie, or I tell myself I do until I come to terms with the fact that I don't. This movie is the rarest exception. There came a point where I almost left the theater because I couldn't cope with the fact that the movie playing in front of me was so different than the movie I thought it could be. Part of that is my fault, but not all of it.

My biggest issue with this movie is that I don't even know what it is. A rom-com? A redemption story? A love story? A movie about family? A movie about culture and respecting values? A military movie? Granted, not every good movie needs categorization, but it sure does help. This movie doesn't even seem to know what it is. It sets itself up to be one thing, and then leaves that one thing alone to try to be another thing, before deciding that -- oh, no! -- it wants to be this thing instead, and then it doesn't follow through with that! The narrative of the film is so detached and hard to follow that it is painful. I left the movie knowing that I didn't like it, and that is so distressful for me.

Because the film feels so messy, the sentiment gets lost. Some of the jokes work, but not all the ones that should. The moments of tension don't feel real, and the relationships are hard to believe. Part of that is because much of the first third of the film feels so choppy and abrupt; it doesn't give the audience time to breathe. Another part of it is because a lot of the dialogue feels so forced, and everything gets wrapped up so oddly. This should be a film that evokes emotion...well, emotion other than anger. Unfortunately, frustration is all I really felt throughout the course of the movie.

There are moments of the film that are enjoyable, most of which come toward the end, but those cannot make up for the unfortunate events sandwiched in beforehand. I enjoyed the performances, even down to the children of McAdams' character, Tracy. With what they are given, most of the cast members (sorry Krasinski) bring some vibrance to an otherwise tepid story. Stone is convincing as a young woman who cares a whole lot about a whole lot of things, and Cooper bounces off her well in their initial conflict of interest. McAdams' character is the only real consistent one, emotionally. Her reactions to situations are predictable, but that doesn't reflect poorly on McAdams. Murray is good, McBride seems a bit underused, and Baldwin is mostly absent until the end, but even then he's fun to watch. Also, the cinematography and soundtrack are enjoyable, and help to add an element of intrigue to the film.

This isn't a horrible movie, not at all. In fact, it's pretty harmless; it means well, but just doesn't fulfill its potential. I don't hate it, but I would not speak in favor of this movie either. Maybe I was just misguided in expecting so much from a movie that just doesn't deliver. It's just aggravating to see a movie set itself up just to let itself -- and its audience -- down.