Unless your server / application requires 4 vCPUs, I'd try dropping that to 1 vCPU. You also mentioned that you are using local storage for your datastore. Depending on the configuration of that storage (specifically, RAID level) and the age and capabilities of the controller, that may be part of the problem. Once the VM is up and running, check out the Disk performance charts, and look for high latency on reads and writes.
Hope this helps!
mike