'You Had Me at Aloha', seen as part of a newly started project of watching more non-Christmas Hallmark films, is another one of the Hallmark films where expectations were mixed. Hallmark have done many misses but also many surprising hits, so there is absolutely no bias for or against them. Hawaii is a stunning place. The two leads have been at least watchable in other things. The story did not sound great though and had heard and seen comments from trusted reviewers about it being bad.
Watching it, 'You Had Me at Aloha' (one of Hallmark's Summer Nights films) didn't strike me as anywhere near as bad as has been said, and not the awful film that was to be increasingly honest expected. Some things are done very well and considering the circumstances it could have been worse. There are a lot of major and distracting however and the film overall is also not particularly good and is instead on the whole very, very average.
Starting with the good, 'You Had Me at Aloha' looks beautiful. Hallmark was no stranger to beautiful scenery and Hawaii is as stunning a locale as one can get, captured photogenically by the photography. The music is pleasant and nostalgic, as well as more authentic than most Hallmark soundtracks (an aspect that was always variable to problematic with them). There are some cute and entertaining moments thanks to the delivery of the two leads.
Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith are immensely appealing leads and their chemistry to me was natural and warm. The supporting cast are also more than able, considering what they were given.
However, 'You Had Me at Aloha' had a lot wrong with it that stopped me from engaging with it. The story is very messy, with a choppy and rushed first act, a sometimes charming and fun middle act despite realism going out of the window and a contrived and truly ridiculous final act. Actually got the sense that the writers had little idea how to end the film. The script has too much cheese and awkwardness and is also far too talky and over-explanatory.
The pacing could have been a lot tighter as well, as it does suffer from the story furthermore being as thin as a wafer and being excessively predictable due to rehashing well worn ideas. Meaning that it feels pedestrian too much. The direction tends to be too routine and for all the cast's best efforts the characters are underdeveloped and don't come over as real enough. More could have been done with the Hawaiian culture, not much of it to the extent that the setting could have passed for anywhere.
Overall, not that bad but not particularly good at the same time. 5/10.
