Can Hollywood love Cameron Crowe again?

Characters getting second chances, be it in love or career, is a thematic hallmark of Cameron Crowe's filmography. The same could be said of Crowe himself.

The iconic director's new film Aloha arrives in theaters Friday, but many are wondering what kind of Crowe movie it will be. Will it live as a classic, as many of his early works do? Or, like much of his recent material, is it doomed to be another blip in a storied Hollywood life?

There is concern that it's headed for the latter because, well, Aloha is quite the mystery. Even though the cast includes A-list Oscar nominees such as Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, there are no reviews on aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com, with critics' screenings taking place just this week. The movie's release date pushed back months; Aloha was originally scheduled for Christmas Day last year, with the thought that it might be an awards contender. And the director is already in hot water with native Hawaiians, who have deemed the title "disrespectful."

Yet one thing's for certain when it finally hits screens: It'll be a Cameron Crowe film, for better or for worse.

"What makes him an enigmatic figure in Hollywood is that he has complete control over his movies, and hardly anybody has that," says Jeff Bock, senior analyst for entertainment research company Exhibitor Relations.

Aloha casts Cooper as a military contractor whose new job returns him to Hawaii, where he becomes torn between an old flame (Rachel McAdams) and his attractive Air Force liaison (Stone).

With a mix of romantic comedy and drama, it's another in a long line of genre-defying Crowe flicks.

The 57-year-old director was responsible for two of the 1980s' most seminal coming-of-age movies, penning the script for 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High and writing and directing 1989's Say Anything … The next decade brought more hits: Singles (1992) spoke to twentysomethings in the grunge era. Jerry Maguire (1996), starring Tom Cruise, unleashed a slew of catchphrases and became Crowe's biggest box-office hit ($154 million). Almost Famous (2000) dug into Crowe's own background as a youthful rock journalist.

Things haven't been quite the same since, with 2005's Elizabethtown and 2011's We Bought a Zoo showing star power — Orlando Bloom in the former, Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson in the latter — but getting mixed responses from moviegoers and critics alike. Elizabethtown flopped in theaters with a paltry $26.9 million, though Zoo earned a respectable $75.6 million.

With Aloha, however, people are rooting for the filmmaker to "return to form and create the type of movie that audiences have always expected from him: a melding of romance, comedy, fun, a great soundtrack and a splash of drama mixed in for good measure to create that unique Cameron Crowe experience," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior box-office analyst for Rentrak.

Throughout his career, Crowe has shown that he's a true romantic.

"He's like Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything…, forever holding up a radio stuffed with the soundtrack of our lives," says Erik Davis, contributing editor for Fandango.com and Movies.com. "He just gets relationships, and he knows how to sprinkle on just the right amount of sentiment so that his movies feel both honest and heartfelt."

Crowe has maintained that idealism while culture has grown cynical around him, and in a way, the filmmaker is a man out of time, Bock says.

"He can make a film that's maybe optimistic or cheesy when it seems like it isn't the place anymore to do it, yet he still does it," Bock says. "And he brings you back to his perspective. He makes movies the way he wants to do them and it doesn't matter what year it is."

But as long as there's a thirst for relatable people navigating complex relationships, there will be date-night couples lining up to watch Crowe's movies, Davis says. And A-list talent continues to flock to his projects: In addition to Cooper and Stone, Aloha also boasts Alec Baldwin and the mercurial Bill Murray.

"Actors love this guy. They will do whatever," Bock says. "If Cameron Crowe hands you a script, you say, 'I'm in, man.' "

Moviegoers and thespians aren't going anywhere, but are Hollywood studios ready to cast out Crowe yet, even if his new movie flops?

Not a chance, Bock says. "Everybody knows he has it in him to come up with something that touches a lot of people, and that's hard to do these days.

"Yes, he only makes a film every three or four years, but every now and then, he makes a brilliant film, so it's worth it to be in business with Cameron Crowe. That next one you have at your studio might be the brilliant one."