Overall Rating
  Awesome: 61.21%
Worth A Look: 20.69%
Average: 11.21%
Pretty Bad: 2.16%
Total Crap: 4.74%
15 reviews, 142 user ratings
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| Almost Famous |
by Scott Weinberg
"I CHALLENGE you not to enjoy this fantastic movie."
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Almost Famous is a movie without villains. There’s not one scene that seems lifted from an earlier movie. This production is free of formula, pretense or cheap artifice. Several scenes make you feel like you’re eavesdropping on some conversation about old times and lost innocence. In a year in which most movies have been as foul as a compost heap, this film is a deep breath of fresh air, and I anticipate that the beloved Oscar award will confirm my beliefs. You could pick any one of a half-dozen actors who could be nominated for Almost Famous, and Cameron Crowe should be looking at two nominations, as well.Writer/director Cameron Crowe has created four films in the past eleven years. While that’s certainly not a lot of movies (especially by Hollywood standards), you can always expect a touching and personal story from him. If the rumors of Crowe’s ‘perfectionist’ nature are true, that’s just fine with me. His debut effort, Say Anything, was a near-perfect rose in the trampled garden of the 'teen-movie’ genre. Singles was his second directorial effort, and while it’s not nearly a perfect movie, there are several honest and truly entertaining components throughout.
Then his third effort, Jerry Maguire, vaulted him onto the “A-list” of directors. (Prior to directing films, Crowe had also written the screenplays for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Wild Life.) With a wonderful 3 for 3 track record thus far, Crowe unveils his latest (and arguably best) movie, Almost Famous. Quite simply, this is one of the most entertaining films of the past five years, and the accolades start with Crowe himself.
Loosely based on his Crowe’s own experiences, Almost Famous tells the story of young William Miller (Patrick Fugit), who dreams of being a rock critic. His love for music is a gift from his sister Anita (Zooey Deschanel), who gives him her record collection before leaving home to become an airline stewardess. Their mother Elaine (Frances McDormand) does not approve of the volatile music, and she’s smart enough to know what really goes on at rock concerts. When William reaches age 15, his writing starts to get noticed, and he eventually becomes friendly with legendary rock scribe Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who offers him an assignment: Write 500 words on an upcoming Black Sabbath concert.
After the concert, as William attempts to get backstage for an interview with the band, he meets the ‘Band-Aids’, a wholesome gaggle of groupies played by Kate Hudson, Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin. After the ladies quickly disappear into the concert hall, William finds himself face to face with the band Stillwater, and they invite him to hang around backstage for a while. The young writer quickly makes an impression, and lands a gig for Rolling Stone covering Stillwater’s ‘Almost Famous’ tour.
William’s intention is to write an accurate and honest story about the band, but his objectivity is constantly challenged as he becomes close with several members of the entourage, most notably lead singer Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and groupie/muse Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). While he tries to follow the advice of Lester Bangs, which is to be merciless regarding his interview subjects, the ties he quickly forms with the group make that near impossible. Guitarist Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) jokingly refers to William as ‘The Enemy’, since rock journalists are often noted for exposing their subjects, warts and all.
The screenplay is a perfect combination of ‘behind-the-scenes’ gossip, wonderfully honest dialogue and several truly hilarious exchanges. While there are several ‘laugh out loud’ scenes, you won’t notice many ‘punch lines’. Especially noteworthy is the production design, which brings the early 70’s to life in effectively accurate, yet subtle, style. The overall tone of the movie is simply likable, as if Crowe were offering us his true tales, only polished up to make the good stuff sweeter and the nasty stuff less important.
While I’d venture to say that the script is the real star of the movie, the cast of actors on display here is uniformly excellent. Newcomer Patrick Fugit (seen previously only in a TV-movie entitled Killer Ants!) is stunningly good as young William, with his wide eyes, cockeyed grin and rampant integrity. Equally as strong is the luminous Kate Hudson (200 Cigarettes). As Penny Lane, she shows us a lot; her confidence and bravado is always laced with innocence, and her performance is simply a joy to behold. It of course comes as no surprise that Frances McDormand (Fargo) is brilliantly funny and instantly lovable as the over-protective Elaine. While in any other movie, her character would be the ‘nagging comic relief’, McDormand is simply too talented of an actress (and her role is that well written) for that to happen here. Jason Lee (Chasing Amy) impresses in a several scenes, as one of the more spoiled band members and Fairuza Balk (The Craft) is memorable in a small, yet important, role.
But there’s more! Billy Crudup (Waking the Dead) nearly blows all these great performances out of the water with his portrayal of Russell, the band’s lead singer. The friendship between Russell and William is one of the movie’s most important, and Crudup shines at every opportunity, showing equal parts of arrogance, honesty, warmth and frustration. In smaller roles, Zooey Deschanel (Mumford) and Anna Paquin (The Piano) aren’t given too much to do, but they entertain in small doses nonetheless.
It’s movies like Almost Famous that make me wish that an Oscar was awarded for best ensemble cast. I’ve been rambling about everyone in the entire movie, and haven’t even gotten to Philip Seymour Hoffman (Magnolia) as Lester Bangs. In his relatively short career, this actor has proven himself to wonderfully talented and also versatile as hell. (Watch Flawless, Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski and Hard Eight for the versatility I’m referring to.) If Almost Famous is a five-course dinner, Hoffman’s world-weary and sarcastic portrayal of Lester is the touch of salt that makes the meal perfect.
Crowe’s film is not a story about rock concerts or drug-enhanced hotel orgies; it’s about a handful of people, a few of them rock stars, and a few of them along for the ride. There’s a real sense of intimacy in many scenes, as if the writer had really been there and some of these people really existed. (Of course, we know that the writer WAS there, and that these people did, in some form, exist.)The fact that Crowe could present this personal of a story, and have it be so original and entertaining, is a testament to his skill as a writer. Almost Famous is almost a perfect movie, for the parents of today who lived through this era, or the kids of today who want to see why this place and time meant so much to that generation.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=3454&reviewer=128
originally posted: 09/12/00 17:17:08
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USA
22-Sep-2000 (R)
DVD: 04-Dec-2001
UK
N/A
Australia
22-Feb-2001 (M)
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