Having recovered from an injury in an Afghan operation, military contractor Brian grudgingly flies to Hawaii to join an operation in which billionaire Carson plans to launch a satellite and start a space center. He meets his ex-girlfriend there, Tracy, who is now married with another man and has two kids. He also starts a relationship with Air Force Captain Allison, who persuades him that space should only be used for pacifist research, and should stay off limits for military build-up. Upon learning that Carson plans to launch a nuclear payload in the satellite, Brian hacks and programs it to self-destruct in orbit. At first, his superiors are furious, but Brian gains affection of Allison.
When the news spread that brilliant director-screenwriter Cameron Crowe managed to rally genius actors Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Bill Murray for his next film, hopes were high that such an ensemble of talent will lead to another one of his great films. Unfortunately, their collaboration, "Aloha", is a mediocre, routine drama-comedy without inspiration. The main problem is the thin story that meanders from subplot to subplot, involving several storylines which clash without much sense for a purpose, or even a sense for anything. Crowe was always at his best while observing human characters and letting them interact in comical stories, yet in his later films, from "Elizabethtown" onwards, he had less and less highlights to show, and here these characters never manage to rise to the occasion or lead to some brilliant scene. One rare example when he proves a "right hunch" is the party sequence where Brian holds two drinks in his hands, but a military officer tells him that tycoon Carson wants to talk to him. Brian asks when, and the officer takes both of his drinks from his hands and replies: "Now". While a neat set-up, the following dialogues with Brian and Carson is strangely pointless and boring. At least it also features a neat sequence where Emma Stone and Bill Murray are dancing with each other. The love triangle between Brian, Tracy and Allison never ignites, resulting in a routine achievement, and a "shoehorned" satellite launch near the end, proving a strangely lackadaisical and un-engaging film for Crowe.
Grade:+
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