The only part of Aloha that feels like a Cameron Crowe film is the opening credits which are written in a script very similar to that of Almost Famous.
From the trailers, this movie seemed like a home run for Crowe. It featured an all-star cast, romantic location and a musical soundtrack that pulled everything together. Despite having an amazing cast and Crowe’s ear for musical talent, this film is missing everything else that could have made it another classic from Crowe.
Crowe is known for being an original filmmaker with his own style and vision. That might be why Aloha is such a disappointment. It doesn’t contain any iconic moments or memorable dialogue. Instead the movie just falls flat.
Crowe is the kind of director that can transport audiences into a different world. He has taken audiences inside what it’s like to be a sports agent, shown us that love can be understood through a boom box and that a bus ride can change lives. Aloha teaches us nothing. It’s a paint-by-numbers movie that feels completely unoriginal. It’s easy to guess the ending of the movie from the start and the story is lacking any emotional depth.
Aloha stars Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Bill Murray and Rachel McAdams. The story focuses on Brian Gilcrest (Cooper), who is a military contractor that returns to Hawaii on assignment. He is assigned to work with Allison Ng (Stone), while he attempts to reconnect with his former love Tracy (McAdams). The plot at times is confusing and the pacing jumps from point to point. The audience never gets to fully invest with these characters because we hardly know them. Cooper and Stone deliver decent performances but they have undeveloped roles and poor dialogue, which holds them both back.
One of the more disappointing aspects of Aloha are the supporting characters. Crowe is working with Bill Murray, this should have been a match made in cinematic history but instead Murray is significantly underutilized, when he could have been a main character. The same can be said for John Krasinski, who barley speaks in the movie.
On paper this movie seems like it should be sensational. Crowe is known for character development, playing with emotions and connecting with his stories personally. With this type of cast and those ideals, this should have been a stand out movie this summer. Instead Aloha feels disconnected with it’s odd pacing, dialogue and character interactions.
All great artists tend to go through creative highs and lows. This might be just that for Crowe. Knowing that, it might be time for him to return to his roots and embrace the energy that can be felt in Almost Famous and Say Anything in a more indie film environment.
Here is to hoping that Crowe will take a drive, sing along with “Tiny Dancer” and return to that style of filmmaking, which felt real, original and very uncool, in the best way possible.
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