Aloha

In Cameron Crowe's jumbled romantic dramedy, Bradley Cooper stars as Air Force veteran Brian Gilcrest, an inscrutable military contractor working for a shady billionaire industrialist (Bill Murray) who is launching a privately-funded space satellite. After an absence of 13 years, Gilcrest returns to Honolulu's Hickam Air Force Base to convince King Kamehameha's descendant, real-life sovereign activist Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele, to bless a strategic ceremonial gate in return for “two mountains and better cell phone reception.” None of this is really clear since the film is muddled, mixing in indigenous Hawaiian spiritualism with a love quadrangle involving Gilcrest, his former girlfriend (Rachel McAdams), her unintelligible husband (John Krasinski), and perky Capt. Allison Ng (Emma Stone), a fighter pilot assigned to escort Gilcrest. Blond, green-eyed Ng explains her Pacific Island heritage as one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Hawaiian, and one-quarter Swedish (as for the fourth quarter, that's anyone's guess). Crowe, whose frothy dialogue is always inventive, can't seem to come up with a workable or compelling plot here, as every would-be surprise is telegraphed in advance. A disappointing effort from a talented writer-director, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras “The Untitled Hawaii Project” making-of documentary (74 min.), a gag reel (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is audio commentary by writer-director Cameron Crowe, the original opening (19 min.), the featurettes “Ledward Kaapana: Music is Everything” (15 min.), Uncle Bumpy” (6 min.), and “The Awe of Space” (3 min.), deleted scenes (12 min.), an alternate ending (5 min.), a photo gallery with optional commentary by photographer Neal Preston (3 min.), “Mitchell's Film” short (2 min.), and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)