Aloha is a film that is directed by Cameron Crowe who some may know as the director of Jerry Maguire (1996) or Elizabethtown (2005). Aloha has a cast full of A list actors, some of which include Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, Alec Baldwin, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray and John Krasinski. Aloha follows the story of a military professional (Bradley Cooper) who returns to Hawaii, where he reconnects with a lost love (Rachel McAdams), but falls for an air force companion (Emma Stone) who was assigned to watch over him.
Aloha Trailer
Aloha Review
When going in to see Aloha, I was really excited about it because not only did it have a whole line up of really great actors, it also had a director who has quite a few movies that I really enjoy watching. But when I came out of watching the film, I was left a little disappointed with it all.
The biggest disappointment about Aloha comes from the storyline that we get. While it’s okay for Bradley Cooper’s character who is Brian Gilcrest to go back to Hawaii to reconnect with people he knows there. The story quickly develops into one with so many subplots, that everything feels strange by the end. We have the Bradley Cooper (Brian) reconnecting with Rachel McAdams (Tracy) storyline, we have Emma Stone’s Allison Ng trying to get with Brian, we get John Krasinski’s John having relationship problems with his wife Tracy (Rachel McAdams) and the back and forth with Brian Gilcrest who is trying to “reconnect”. Then on top of all this we have Bill Murray’s character, Carson Welch, trying to put nuclear weapons in space, which is against the law. Then on top of that we have Allison (Emma Stone) and some other Hawaiian’s trying to convince Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) that it’s a really, really bad thing to put weapons up in space. This paragraph was super long and I can’t fit in what Alec Baldwin’s character got up to. But I’m sure you get the point about the storylines.
The actors are actually alright, they are really what most people I imagine are going in to see. Lot’s of people love seeing Emma Stone films and lot’s of people really love Bradley Cooper films to. Both of them really seem to try in this film and they have some moments. But, it’s nothing really special at all. I can’t see any awards coming for them from this one, but they both have many already and will probably get more in the future so it doesn’t matter all that much. Emma Stone was probably the best one of the group in the film and was always a joy when she was on the screen.
Cameron Crowe really missed the mark with this film and I do really love watching some of his earlier work and I hope he comes back with something better in the future. Aloha just feels like it was going to be really great, but somehow it doesn’t feel like it came together the way it was meant to in the end. Lot’s of films carry a nice message with it, but I’m not sure what this one was. Was it about the ethics of putting a nuclear weapon in space? Or was it something about life? Or both?
Aloha is set in Hawaii and it looks really nice, but there’s something about it that it didn’t really feel like it captured the spirit of Hawaii. While I have not actually been there at all, I’ve seen other things filmed there and Hawaii always has a sort of holiday relaxation feel to it. But in Aloha, with the military around and the chats about the weapons in space, the opposition by the locals, it felt like it was taken over by the army by force or something. Maybe not everyone will see it that way. But the tone just wasn’t right, there was just something about this movie that it didn’t work.
Overall Aloha is really a movie that I’m sorry to say, people should give a miss. You may want to check it out when it’s available for rent if you’re that curious. But it’s not worth going to the cinema for and paying top dollar. For a comedy, it’s not really at all that funny. Director Cameron Crowe really missed the mark here when it came to the right tone for Aloha and the storyline had just way too many subplots. While all the actors are great to watch and Emma Stone is a joy to see perform, Aloha just isn’t that great at all.
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