ALOHA
Written and directed by Cameron Crowe
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdam, John Krasinski, Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin
Time:105 mins
Rated: PG
CAMERON Crowe’s Aloha is not what you’d expect it to be. It is a nice little movie with an almost fairytale feel. If you’re a fan of the cult hit Local Hero, then this might feel familiar – though not totally.
The problem with this (and in my opinion all of Crowe’s other movies including to a lesser degree Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous) is it tries too hard. The result is a bit of a dog’s breakfast to be honest – a charming, shambolic, homage to fromage – cheesy but warm hearted, slightly mystical but not quite enough. In fact, there is not enough of anything to really make it work, which is a shame because in there somewhere is a really charming little movie trying to get out.
Bradley Cooper stars as a former air force/NASA pilot/scientist who is now a gun for hire working for a big international company run by Carson Welch (played deliciously by Bill Murray). He let his employer down in the Middle East and almost got himself killed. Now, with a busted leg and not much of a life left, he’s being redeemed and sent back to Hawaii the scene of his biggest triumphs and the ghosts of his past (including ex-girlfriend Tracy – Rachel McAdams who is now married to his friend Woody (John Krasinski) and has two kids). Add in his gung-ho young air force liaison Captain Ng (Emma Stone) and a cast of colourful characters and you have the makings of a cute warm little (slightly syrupy) movie. There are some genuinely sweet and funny moments – the interaction between Cooper and Krasinski is brilliantly funny (particularly when sub-titled), while Cooper and McAdams also seem to have nice chemistry and Alec Baldwin’s gung-ho military man and Bill Murray as the eccentric billionaire are a lot of fun.
But it’s hard to buy Emma Stone as Captain Allison Ng – the young military pilot who is quarter Chinese and a quarter Hawaiian and, very obviously, half Scandinavian. There has been a lot of criticism that Crowe has “white-washed” the movie by using an obviously Caucasian actress for the role of Ng. But the fact that she does have a peaches and cream actually makes the jokes about her telling everyone she’s Hawaiian funnier. Perhaps, she should have been an eighth Hawaiian though. The failing here though is that character makes a head-spinning flip from gung-ho and frankly annoying military girl to smitten school girl. And the character is never quite as likeable or believable as Crowe wants her to be which is a shame because Stone has proven she’s a more than capable actress.
And things tie up just that little bit too conveniently.
But despite all this, Aloha is still fun and warm and worth a look.
– TANIA PHILLIPS
