As much as I love Cameron Crowe and the cast that he's assembled here, I have to admit that Aloha is a bit of a mess. The aforementioned cast does its absolute best with the material at hand, and the Hawaiian scenery is predictably stunning, but this isn't enough to overcome a confused and at times almost unintelligible script. Crowe has tried to weave three strands of a story together: you've got a fairly typical and cliched rom-com, then you've got this weird undercurrent of Hawaiian mythology, and finally you've got this even weirder commentary on the privatisation of the military. The three concepts never even come close to converging in a coherent way, leaving you wondering why Crowe didn't just take the rom-com basis of his story and run with it fully, particularly given the great chemistry between Stone and Cooper.
Script issues aside I still found plenty to enjoy here, from the beautiful locations to the strong performances to the Bill Murray dance scene, which is worth the price of admission alone. At the end of the day though it definitely feels like a wasted opportunity given the talent of everyone involved, and I'm getting a little sick of saying that of Cameron Crowe films, even though I've yet to truly dislike a movie that he's directed.
This movie was incredibly disappointing to me, for many reasons. I've noticed a trend recently in big films that the more overblown with stars the cast is, the lower the overall quality of the film will be. Take for example Ridley Scott's The Counselor, not to make this a review of a different movie but the perfect storm of director, writer (Cormac McCarthy, acclaimed author of novels such as The Road and No Country for Old Men), and star power with the likes of Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbinder, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem, I was over the hill in anticipation of this film. Unfortunately, when I saw it, it fell very flat for me, made all the more disappointing because there was massive potential for a good or even great movie in there, it just didn't meet it's potential.
Aloha is the same. Knowing nothing about the plot going in except that it clearly takes place in Hawaii, I was excited by the prospect of what it could be. It boasts a director I admire and a cast that always impresses so why wouldn't it be good? Turns out, most glaringly, the script wasn't good enough for any of the actors to work with and the longer the movie went on for it simply devolved into a jumbled mess of half baked ideas and unlikable characters.
This is one of those movies writers are talking about when they say you should watch the bad ones too, to see what not to do. Crowe did not give himself time to flesh out a single idea, and in a movie that is trying to do so many things at once, that is unacceptable. That alone makes the would-be cathartic conclusions to the story that much hokier and half-hearted when you get to them. Aloha is a weak attempt at sentiment by a version of Cameron Crowe who's forgotten that just because a character is flawed does not always make them compelling or even interesting. Crowe would do well to review his script for Almost Famous before beginning work on his next film, which effortlessly pulls off everything that Aloha has failed to do.
The avant-garde RomCom. Jumps between so many different plot points that it becomes an incoherent mess, on top of a very avant-garde dialogue style that I've seen it compared to Pynchon's work countless times. Highly recommended.
Who the hell funded this film, and why? Director, editor, and producers seem to all have slept through everything. The actors looked lost and confused, and there's no reason for anything that happens.
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Comments 1 - 9 of 9
pixieblood
I feel like this film was only made so they could film it in Hawaii, I don't know.. it was just bland, Murray saved it for me.kurozuya
Aloha? more like Aloha!lachyas
As much as I love Cameron Crowe and the cast that he's assembled here, I have to admit that Aloha is a bit of a mess. The aforementioned cast does its absolute best with the material at hand, and the Hawaiian scenery is predictably stunning, but this isn't enough to overcome a confused and at times almost unintelligible script. Crowe has tried to weave three strands of a story together: you've got a fairly typical and cliched rom-com, then you've got this weird undercurrent of Hawaiian mythology, and finally you've got this even weirder commentary on the privatisation of the military. The three concepts never even come close to converging in a coherent way, leaving you wondering why Crowe didn't just take the rom-com basis of his story and run with it fully, particularly given the great chemistry between Stone and Cooper.Script issues aside I still found plenty to enjoy here, from the beautiful locations to the strong performances to the Bill Murray dance scene, which is worth the price of admission alone. At the end of the day though it definitely feels like a wasted opportunity given the talent of everyone involved, and I'm getting a little sick of saying that of Cameron Crowe films, even though I've yet to truly dislike a movie that he's directed.
NourNasreldin
I feel like the pre-production of this film went something like this:-Hey, let's give Gilcrest to Bradley Cooper!
-I like that, and I feel like Emma Stone would make a great Ng!
-I like where you're going aND THAT JUST GAVE ME THE DOPEST FUCKING IDEA!
-Yeah?
-LET'S MAKE IT ALL FAMOUS MOVIE PEOPLE!
-Whaaa?
-Hear me out! hear me out! W H A T if we get Murray on board?
-As in Bill??
-A S I N MUTHURFUCKIN B I L L.
-What? Well...how about we also get Rachel McAdams?
-YASS, bITcH
-...Hmm, Alec Baldwin?
-Dunn.
-John Karsinski!
-Who dat?
-You know, Jim? from The Office?
-...
-Emily Blunt's husband.
-Ow! Owkay! Yes, also dunn.
-Let's shoot it in Hawaii!
-Yes but why?
-It looks authentic
-...
-People think it's romantic and the beer there tastes like you've seen the face of God?
-WE'LL SHOOT IT IN HAWAII AND CALL IT "ALOHA"
-Makes perfect sense. What about the rest of the movie?
-Oww, don't worry about that now! #Never
ClownBaby
This movie was incredibly disappointing to me, for many reasons. I've noticed a trend recently in big films that the more overblown with stars the cast is, the lower the overall quality of the film will be. Take for example Ridley Scott's The Counselor, not to make this a review of a different movie but the perfect storm of director, writer (Cormac McCarthy, acclaimed author of novels such as The Road and No Country for Old Men), and star power with the likes of Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbinder, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem, I was over the hill in anticipation of this film. Unfortunately, when I saw it, it fell very flat for me, made all the more disappointing because there was massive potential for a good or even great movie in there, it just didn't meet it's potential.Aloha is the same. Knowing nothing about the plot going in except that it clearly takes place in Hawaii, I was excited by the prospect of what it could be. It boasts a director I admire and a cast that always impresses so why wouldn't it be good? Turns out, most glaringly, the script wasn't good enough for any of the actors to work with and the longer the movie went on for it simply devolved into a jumbled mess of half baked ideas and unlikable characters.
This is one of those movies writers are talking about when they say you should watch the bad ones too, to see what not to do. Crowe did not give himself time to flesh out a single idea, and in a movie that is trying to do so many things at once, that is unacceptable. That alone makes the would-be cathartic conclusions to the story that much hokier and half-hearted when you get to them. Aloha is a weak attempt at sentiment by a version of Cameron Crowe who's forgotten that just because a character is flawed does not always make them compelling or even interesting. Crowe would do well to review his script for Almost Famous before beginning work on his next film, which effortlessly pulls off everything that Aloha has failed to do.
PretentiousHip91
The avant-garde RomCom. Jumps between so many different plot points that it becomes an incoherent mess, on top of a very avant-garde dialogue style that I've seen it compared to Pynchon's work countless times. Highly recommended.acid_intimacy
Who the hell funded this film, and why? Director, editor, and producers seem to all have slept through everything. The actors looked lost and confused, and there's no reason for anything that happens.filmyjo
Good movie.JenLaw_Derp99
I loved it! But my opinion should probably not be allowed since I am a big fan of Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone so it's a little biased lol