SYNOPSIS: In Aloha, a celebrated military contractor (Bradley Cooper) returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs - the US Space program in Honolulu, Hawaii - and reconnects with a long-ago love (Rachel McAdams) while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog (Emma Stone) assigned to him. 

REVIEW: What aroused my curiosity the most about this film was the cast. I was very interested in seeing how good this seemingly typical rom-com could be with the star cast that it has. Well, I’ll tell you what, this is not a typical rom-com, and the cast helps establish that fact. Also throw in the fact that Cameron Crowe is the writer/director and we’ve got a pretty decent flick. Mr. Crowe is known for his not-so-typical films such as Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown, and We Bought a Zoo. These movies don’t exactly fit the cookie cutter mold of their genre which is why they stand out as different, unique, and even special. This latest production fits right into his repertoire. This is not his best work, but you can tell that it is his work, and that’s a good thing. The script is quick, witty, bizarre, and quirky with just the right amount of humor. The story is somewhat quick too, but very charming. And it’s the cast that really makes all this shine, none more than Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone. Their banter and chemistry was the main ingredient in the film’s charm. Actually, Bradley had pretty good chemistry with Rachel McAdams as well. Bradley is just “that” guy. While watching this movie I realized that Bradley and Rachel worked together and had some kind of connection in Wedding Crashers as well. I put it that way because the connections are similar but different, if you know what I mean. Emma was perfectly cast for her character, sharp, strong, and witty. What we have here is a bit of a love triangle between these three in the midst of a combined private sector/military operation going on in Hawaii. Now as would normally happen in a story like this, the viewer will be thrust to pick between Emma’s character and Rachel’s as to who Bradley’s character should stay with. It’s just the natural order of things. So after an intense and in depth discussion with Priscilla, we both agreed that putting Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams in the same movie would result in Rachel winning the stunning, classic beauty battle and Emma winning the uber cute and adorable battle. So see, they both win, so who does Bradley end up with . . . well I’m not going to tell you, you have to go see the movie to find out. As for the rest of the cast, well when you have names like Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, Danny McBride, and John Krasinski, you can expect good things. Their roles were relatively small but effective, especially John’s whose character is extremely soft spoken. 

As mentioned, the story takes place in Hawaii and it was filmed on location. The 49th State shines just as much as anybody else in this film. The cinematography and various sets are breathtaking and beautiful. We also get an insight on true Hawaiian culture and how they really feel about being one of the United States of America. It’s a bitter sweet relationship. But all this, the Hawaii setting and the military aspects give this movie an interesting backdrop to help make it not-so-typical. Overall, this is a nice movie that is satisfactory for a date night or what have you, if your date doesn’t want anything action-based. 

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