The movieAlohais now headed to Netflix.Alohais a 2015 Cameron Crowe movie about a military contractor who gets an assignment in Hawaii and reconnects with a former love interest, only to find himself falling for an Air Force member assigned to him. The cast features Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Alec Baldwin, Bill Murray, and John Krasinski. Upon its release,Alohawas met with mixed reviews and controversy over whitewashing.
Did You Know?
Alohawas a passion project for Crowe and, at one point, was reportedly set to star Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon.
In just under a week,Alohawill be available to watch on Netflix. The controversialEmma Stone moviehits Netflix on Sunday, September 1. This will be the first time thatAlohawill be available on this platform in the near decade since its initial release.
Aloha
Cast
Military contractor Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) returns to Hawaii, the site of one of his finest career triumphs, to oversee the launch of a weapons satellite. While there, he attempts to reconnect with his long lost love (McAdams), and unsuspectingly falls for the Air Force watchdog (Stone) assigned to look over him.
As the film hits Netflix this week,the most appealing part ofAlohais its main cast.Already major stars at the time of the movie’s release, Stone and Cooper have continued to maintain successful careers, with both actors being nominated for multiple Oscars. As withEasy AandLa La Land, Stone succeeds as one of the film’s main romantic leads, and her performance is well worth watching if one wants a complete look at her filmography.
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Alohawas alsothesubject of significant controversy at the time of its release.This debate mainly stemmed over the casting of Stone, who played a character that is part Chinese and part Hawaiian. It was accused of being another example of whitewashing, as Stone is white. It didn’t help that the movie itself was met with negative reviews. WatchingAlohanow will give viewers a chance to try to explore the source of this controversy, and decide for themselves whether the film deserved the flack that it received.
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Furthermore, Stone’s performance inAlohais well-balanced by an equally great performance from Cooper.Cooper and Stone’s chemistry really allowsAlohato shine, making the film more appealing. With the rom-com genre making a resurgence, now could be the time to reevaluate this Crowe title.
WhatScreenRanthas said aboutAloha:
Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone do help to elevate Aloha above its shortcomings, with each delivering generally warm and likable performances - despite being saddled with playing what are (arguably) fairly stock character types. Stone’s Swedish/Chinese/Hawaiian character (you read that correctly), for example, will no doubt be seen by many as another one of Crowe’s Manic Pixie Dream Girls (be that a fair complaint or not), while Cooper’s protagonist goes on a familiar journey - a guy who must recover his soul, having long ago given up on being a bright-eyed dreamer. -‘Aloha’ Review
Aloha’s Controversy & Reception Explained
Aloha Received A Lot Of Blowback
As mentioned,Aloha’s casting was the most contentious part of the movie. On the one hand, it is the film’s cast members that were the highlight of the movie. However,the casting team made a huge misstep in casting a white actress in the lead role, a person of color who is part Chinese and part Hawaiian. While casting someone of the appropriate race would have been ideal,Alohaalso could likely have gotten away with just changing the race of the character to be a white woman, making Stone’s casting less problematic, though still being problematic in and of itself by taking a role away from a woman of color.
The casting qualms are likely a huge part of what ledAlohato receive as poor reviews as it did.Alohascored a rotten 20%among its 166 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. As in the case ofScreen Rant’s review of the film,Alohagot criticism for “fairly stock character types” with no real definition or distinguishing qualities. Other critics found issues with the main storyline, withThe Atlantic’s Lenika Cruz callingAlohaa “tangled mess.” Chris Stuckmann felt the film was “odd and incoherent,” which seemed to be a consensus on the film.
Stone’s casting ended up part of an ongoing discussion about whitewashing in Hollywood, and how it can be avoided in future films. Not learning fromAloha’s mistake,2017’sGhost in the Shellcast Scarlett Johansson, yet another white actress, in the lead role, who is traditionally portrayed as a Japanese woman. While these films may have caused harm at the time of their release, their negative reception hopefully sent a message that whitewashing is an unacceptable casting practice.
Ghost in the Shellis available to watch on PlutoTV or rent on Prime Video.
As such, it will be interesting to see how Netflix viewers react toAlohawhen it hits Netflix this time around. Despite its casting fumble,Alohais fascinating to rewatch purely on the basis of tracking how much Hollywood has evolved from 2016 to now. There are still major casting issues to this day, but audiences are now able to be exposed to more and more authentic storytelling, such as in the case of films likeEverything Everywhere All at OnceorMoana 2.
