Aloha (2015)

"In any of its many forms, I have found that nothing beats fun."

Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) is a military contractor with NASA.  After his promising military career ended, he works for millionaire Carson Welch (Murray).  Welch has a new deal in play, and sends Gilcrest to Hawaii to work with the Air Force to finalize the details.  He is assigned an idealistic Air Force liaison, Captain Allison Ng (Stone).  Gilcrest and Ng are assigned to negotiate with the King Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele for a gate blessing ceremony for the space center Welch is building. 

The job also requires Gilcrest to work with his ex girlfriend, Tracy Woodside (McAdams), who he hasn't seen in over 13 years.  Tracy is married to Gilcrest's old friend John "Woody" Woodside (Krasinski), an Air Force pilot who has problems communicating with his family.  He also has to work with old friends, Colonel "Fingers" Lacy (McBride) and General Dixon (Baldwin), who hates him.  Can he make the deal and keep his job?


This film is a bit of a disaster.  It is trying hard to be too many things and trying to tell too many separate stories.  At it's heart, the story is a rom com with likeable / marketable leads.  But even within that story, it isn't sure what to do with the cast and throws different ideas at the audience.  It tries to be a love letter to Hawaii, and includes Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele  as himself...  And it tries to throw in a bigger issue... but again it feels like too many separate plots thrown at the wall to see what will stick.

This is director Cameron Crowe's tenth film (including two documentaries).  Say Anything and Almost Famous are considered classics.  Cameron is known for directing romantic comedies.  His last rom com was released in 2005 (in 2011 he directed family film We Bought a Zoo).  I'm not sure what happened in the last ten years, but this is not on the same level as his previous works.

The cast is populated with likeable actors, all trying hard to sell the material.  They do a decent job, but no one stands out.  The movie as a whole is ok, but not memorable.


Aloha (2015) minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some language including suggestive comments
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Bradley Cooper as Brian Gilcrest
Emma Stone as Captain Allison Ng
Rachel McAdams as Tracy Woodside 
Bill Murray as Carson Welch
John Krasinski as John "Woody" Woodside
Danny McBride as Colonel "Fingers" Lacy
Alec Baldwin as General Dixon
Bill Camp as Bob Largent
Jaeden Lieberher as Mitchell Woodside
Danielle Rose Russell as Grace Woodside