(USA, 105 min.)
Written and directed by Cameron Crowe
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone,
Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Alec Baldwin
Ahahana!
[pronounced: ah hah hah' nah !] reportedly means “Shame
on you! / You're gonna get it!” in Hawaiian according to a website that’s just
a lazy Google search away. One's initial impulse is to leave the theatre join in the
chorus of critics, Hawaiians, and, probably, gods chanting Ahahana! to Cameron Crowe for his disappointing misfire Aloha. Aloha feels as if Crowe simply did a quick search on Hawaiian myth
and folklore (keyword: ‘hawaiian love spirits’) and used the first hit that
came up to pepper this sunny rom-com with the soul of the gods.
Crowe, the mind behind
films such as Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, and Almost Famous (for which his screenplay won an Oscar), can deliver
some of the best, sweetest, and most honest reflections of young love that a
movie can muster. Even 2005’s Elizabethtown
is worth defending if one can get through the first twenty minutes. There’s no
defending Aloha, but there’s no
reason to deride it, either. It’s just a forgettable film that backfires in
spite of the range of talent both behind the camera and in front of it.
The film features a
range of annoying, unlikable, and unbelievable characters including Brian
(Bradley Cooper), a military contractor visiting Hawaii for a ceremony and a
secret operation; Allison Ng (Emma Stone), Brian’s naval escort who is the Energizer
Bunny incarnate; and Woody (John Krasinski), the most irritating sketch of a
bro one will ever see. They’re joined by Tracy, played by Rachel McAdams, whose
warm, radiant performance is the only thing that keeps Aloha from flying off the rails altogether. The warm Hawaiian
spirits connect this quartet as wind creeps through screen doors and arouses a
little something-something in the heart hearts of these folks stationed in
Hawaii.
The love story between
Brian and Allison never quite convinces as Ng escorts Brian around the island
and becomes instantly infatuated with him. He’s an arrogant jerk and she’s a
wound-up keener, and both Cooper and Stone struggle to make their characters
real in spite of the charm, flaws, and idiosyncrasies. Ng is especially
annoying, as she repeatedly reminds fellow characters that she is “one-quarter
Hawaiian” to validate the spiritual connection she feels to the land and air.
One-quarter Hawaiian is as authentic as Aloha
gets: if Emma Stone can’t even make a bubbly burst of sunshine bearable, then
nobody can.
Aloha moves briskly from plotline to plotline and creates a rushed, mildly
coherent cinematic sit-com as the love triangle meshes with a big naval
conspiracy featuring Alec Baldwin, Bill Murray, some token legit Hawaiians, and
a message about the rights and responsibilities humans have to the earth and
sky. Aloha looks doubly unfocused as
busy cinematography by Eric Gauthier proves disorienting and many of Crowe’s staging
are awkward and distracting. Take, for example, one scene that sees Tracy and
Woody argue in their bedroom. The scene cuts from a close up of Adams and
Krasinski to a random high angle from the back corner of the room. The jump
makes no sense as it goes from an intimate pull to a Big Brotherly push. Crowe
can do better, and the bizarre camera placements highlight lazy filmmaking from
a director who usually draws ample heart and humor from his performers.
Aloha nevertheless has fleeting glimpses of Cameron Crowe greatness. A few
exchanges between Cooper and Stone have the bittersweetness of which good
rom-coms are made when Aloha redeems
one of its goofiest moments and sees Ng wiping away tears from underneath a big
hat with built in sunglasses. There’s a seed for screwball comedy here, if only
a shapeless one. On the other hand, Aloha
gives Rachel McAdams some of her best work when Tracy confronts her conflicted
feelings for Brian and Woody, and Crowe lets McAdams shine in a close-up that
makes fine use of the warm Hawaiian atmosphere and plays into Brian’s
underlying ignorance of the people and culture that surrounds him. There’s
clearly a good film somewhere in Aloha,
but this cut resembles an early draft.
Rating: ★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Aloha is now playing in wide release.
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