I meant to write about Aloha last week, but I kept forgetting. In some ways that could be the extent of this post – it is quite telling – but I owe Cameron Crowe more than that even though this particular film manages to be both flat and muddled at the same time.

Why do I still have such a soft spot for Crowe?

That’s like asking why I still have a crush on Lloyd Dobler (played by John Cusack) that dates back to 1989 after seeing his character in Say Anything, the first film Crowe directed and one of the first he wrote after Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Other people prefer Jerry Maguire (I couldn’t buy that a single mom would give up health insurance so easily and bristled at the way most divorced women were portrayed as so terribly bitter) or their favorite is Almost Famous (the nostalgia worked on me here, too), but it’s still Say Anything that gets me every time.

Aloha is ostensibly a love story between a military contractor who has seen better days (Bradley Cooper) and the young Air Force pilot assigned to watch over him on a job (Emma Stone). I like both of them generally and also typically enjoy actors in supporting roles, Rachel McAdams (Cooper’s ex-girlfriend) and John Krasinski (McAdams’ husband).

The romance, which has its own complications, is set against a geopolitical/corporate/military storyline that really doesn’t matter enough (or come together well enough) to try to explain here.

Instead of writing about Aloha, I’d rather take another look at Say Anything.

Maybe I’ll just zip through the DVD (yes, I have it) to review some of my favorite parts while the laundry is drying…of course…if I get started…I might just watch the entire thing…or, maybe I’ll just listen to “In Your Eyes”…no, I think I’ll revisit at least some scenes in the movie…and, if you know the film, I’m betting you know which scenes some of those are…