Aloha
The existence of “Almost Famous,” “Say Anything” and “Jerry Maguire” assures Cameron Crowe a special place in my heart as a filmmaker, but that just makes something like “Aloha” all the more frustrating to watch. The film follows the same basic formula that has been a staple of the director’s since “Jerry Maguire” of a man stuck in life, growing tired of who he’s become, and trying to fix himself, usually having to do with some sort of romantic entanglement, whether it’s from his past or a present day opportunity for someone new. There’s nothing wrong with that formula, and Crowe has mined it well over the years, even in lesser efforts like “Elizabethtown” and “We Bought a Zoo.” Compared to “Aloha,” though, those films look like the three films I mentioned earlier, and while I wouldn’t go quite as far trashing his newest film as some people have, it’s definitely far removed from the films that Crowe will be remembered for.
Let’s start with Emma Stone. Emma Stone is a wonderful actress, and she is able to light up just about anything she is in, as a result. Here, she is asked to play a pilot/military liaison named Allison Ng, who is part Asian, and a quarter Hawaiian. If you’ve ever seen Emma Stone, she’s pretty much as white as they get, and that’s not a bad thing usually, but when she’s asked to play a part with some ethnic diversity, needless to say, some red flags are raised. To compensate, it seems as though they’ve done her makeup in a way to make her seem more ethnic that she really is (or, maybe she’s just supposed to be tanned because she’s in Hawaii); if that’s the case, it’s a severe miscalculation. Being part Hawaiian, and part Asian, plays no part in the way the character is presented, which makes the disparity between Stone in the role, and the character’s last name, stick out like a sore thumb, and rightfully in the crosshairs of people who would accuse the film of being “whitewashed” in terms of casting. This is a disservice not just to the people who are asked to accept this, but Stone herself, and it’s a pretty big strike against the film, although certainly not the biggest.
In terms of the film’s story, if you’ve seen any of the trailers, you can use those, and the general description of the narrative trajectory in the first paragraph, to fill in the holes, and figure out the narrative from there. I’ll go ahead and explain it anyway, though. Bradley Cooper plays Brian Gilcrest, a soldier-turned-consultant for a billionaire (Bill Murray, completely wasted) who is building launch sites for satellites in the state; Gilcrest has a history here that they see as beneficial to getting the land. He is escorted around by Stone’s Allison Ng, although if she’s as important to the military as the commanding officer (Alec Baldwin, also wasted) says, there’s no good reason why Allison would be given such a task other than because the plot demands it. There’s also the matter of Gilcrest’s former lover, Tracy (Rachel McAdams), and her family. She’s married to a pilot (played by John Krasinski) who doesn’t really communicate with Tracy, although when Brian comes over, they communicate quite well together, even if no one else can hear it. There’s a change in Tracy, though, that her husband senses, making an awkward situation even worse, especially when clues are dropped about the parentage of one of Tracy’s children.
One reviewer I read often made an excellent point about “Aloha,” stating that it felt like someone doing a parody of a Cameron Crowe film rather than a Cameron Crowe film, and that is very much true. As I said earlier, a lot of the narrative boxes Crowe has been checking since “Jerry Maguire” are evident in “Aloha,” but what’s missing is that something personal that makes his best films hold up. I don’t believe he has anything burning to say about the military industrial complex (which seems to be the big crux of the plot outside of the character material) like he did about the rock scene of the ’70s in “Almost Famous” or young love in “Say Anything,” and that material doesn’t gel into the relationship material he’s writing as well as the sports agent dilemmas he set up in “Jerry Maguire” did. There’s not a lot, if anything, about the story that really makes sense or really engages us except for the subplot with Brian and Tracy and her family, which provides the one, great scene in the movie late in the film when Tracy reads a letter from her husband, who is off on a mission. In that moment, the best of Cameron Crowe comes through. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is far removed from that moment in terms of writing and emotional impact. My appreciation for Crowe’s earlier work had me looking forward to saying, “Aloha,” to the film as a greeting, but after watching it, and writing this review, allow me to say, “Aloha,” bidding it farewell. Sadly, you won’t be missed.
