I consider myself a big fan of Cameron Crowe’s movies (and music writing), but it’s difficult to argue that he’s made a good film since Almost Famous in 2000. Since then, he’s directed Vanilla Sky (2001), Elizabethtown (2005) and We Bought a Zoo (2011) — along with two documentaries, including 2011’s Pearl Jam Twenty (which was pretty good).
As superficial as it might sound, the guy kind of needs a hit. Casting Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone in the leads for his latest effort is probably a good push toward that. But the trailer for Crowe’s upcoming Aloha doesn’t feel terribly inspiring.
OK, at least Crowe is staying in his comfort zone of romantic comedies, rather than trying to branch out into a different genre as he did with Vanilla Sky (though I would defend him for doing so). And he has assembled a killer cast for this project — including Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin and Bill Murray — which likely speaks to how much actors want to work with Crowe once they read his scripts.
One of the popular knocks on Crowe’s recent work is that he’s been telling the same story in different settings. Elizabethtown sort of felt like Jerry Maguire, and Aloha sort of has the same Elizabethtown vibe of a guy trying to put his life back together after a career disaster. But the trailer makes it seem as if Aloha‘s story branches out more in terms of story, characters and location, so that doesn’t feel like a fair comparison.
The timing of having Cooper coming off American Sniper and Stone bouncing from Birdman could give Crowe the boost his film needs. Maybe Cooper is now one of those true Movie Stars who can draw an audience based on his presence alone. We’ll find out when Aloha opens on May 29.
