SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE BEFORE YOU CAN SAY HELLO.Â
Military contractor Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) goes to Hawaii to take part in a traditional blessing that has unclear ties to the military; the disillusioned Gilcrest gets the wide-eyed Allison Ng (Emma Stone) as his Air Force liaison… After some controversy, both Cameron Crowe and Stone expressed regret over the casting of another white woman as a character who’s part Asian, but the film’s real problem is that the director is unable to make his various ingredients in this romantic drama-comedy gel satisfactorily. Moderately charming at times, but Cooper’s emotional issues (much like everything else here) remain shallow.
2015-U.S. 105 min. Color. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Cast: Bradley Cooper (Brian Gilcrest), Emma Stone (Allison Ng), Rachel McAdams (Tracy Woodside), Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Danny McBride… Alec Baldwin.
Trivia: “Bumpy” Kanahele, a Hawaiian nationalist leader, plays himself.