Starring: Bradley Cooper. Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinsky, Bill Murray, and Dennis Kanahele
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2015
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This American romantic, comedy-drama tells the story of a US military pilot, who almost lost his life in a missile attack in Afghanistan. Years later, he accepts a private contractual assignment in Hawaii, hoping to put right things that went wrong for him in the past, and to put his troubled life behind him.
Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) travels to Hawaii in the employ of an eccentric billionaire, Carson Welch (Bill Murray), who Brian thinks “abandoned” him in the past. He sees his return as second chance to make up for what he did wrong. In Hawaii, he meets his ex-girl friend Tracy (Rachel McAdams), who is now married with two children, and who has an uncommunicative husband, Woody (John Krasinski). Woody supplies some unusual comedy routines with his failure to communicate, which Tracy misunderstands.
On assignment, Brian is “watched over” by Captain Allison Ng (Emma Stone), who plays a US. Air Force fighter pilot of mixed racial descent. Brian’s assignment is to help launch a controversial, weapons satellite and one of his tasks is to negotiate with Hawaiian tribesmen to put the satellite into orbit. Her assignment is to try to help him achieve what the military wants to do.
The relationship between Allison and Brian gets off to a shaky start, before it warms up, and romance between them develops slowly.
The movie is basically a collection of stories looking for a unifying theme. Tracy was almost married to Brian 13 years before and she has an uneasy relationship with Brian, and also with her husband. Brian still bears a grudge against Carson for the way he thought he was treated in the past. A satellite is being launched that Hawaiians don’t want. And Allison’s chief goal in life becomes one of trying to rescue Brian from not believing in himself. All these sub-plots pile on top of each other, and the movie’s dramatic power is weakened by their separate pull.
The movie is set in an American State with a heavily Asian population, but it is acted almost entirely by an all-white cast. In its sweep, it white-washes Hawaiians and their culture. Scenery-wise, the film captures Hawaii very well – grand vistas become a backdrop to the various sub-plots – but the film tends to exclude the people who live there. The film’s scripting is cliched and uneven, and a rich culture is mis-represented, despite a brief appearance of Hawaiian activist, Dennis Kanahele (playing himself), who resists the military satellite initiative, because it requires the relocation of his people’s ancient burial grounds.
The movie is aimed at teenagers and young adults and pulls sentimentally at the heart strings, especially the ones that respond to true (and false) expressions of forgiveness, empathy, and understanding. The film, however, sports a team of actors, that is potentially impressive. Bradley Cooper is a multiple Oscar nominee (fresh from “American Sniper”, 2014), and Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams have a host of quality movies (such as “Birdman”, 2014; and “Midnight in Paris”, 2011) to their credit. Emma Stone is always an interesting actress to watch, but this is a movie that is partly about an unsettled character (Brian), who is need of redemption, and the character she plays is too wooden to be convincing.
Hawaii is the “Aloha State” and “Aloha” is a term intended to capture the spirit of Hawaii. The term is meant to represent genuine affection, sensitivity, and understanding. The film might capture superficially the warmth of an Hawaiian greeting, but it stays well clear of any deeper spiritual meaning of what “Aloha” is intended to mean.
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