Plot
Writer and director Cameron Crowe's experiences as a teenage rock journalist -- he was a regular contributor to Rolling Stone while still in high school -- inspired this coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy hitting the road with an up-and-coming rock band in the early 1970s. Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) is a bright, loving, but strict single parent whose distrust of rock music and fears about drug use have helped to drive a wedge between herself and her two children, Anita (Zooey Deschanel) and William (Patrick Fugit). Anita rebels by dropping out of school and becoming a stewardess, but William makes something of his love of rock & roll by writing album reviews for a local underground newspaper. William's work attracts the attention of Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), editor of renegade rock magazine Creem, who takes William under his wing and gives him his first professional writing assignment -- covering a Black Sabbath concert. While William is unable to score an interview with the headliners, the opening act, Stillwater, are more than happy to chat with a reporter, even if he's still too young to drive, and William's piece on the group in Creem gains him a new admirer in Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen), an editor at Rolling Stone. Torres offers William an assignment for a 3,000-word cover story on Stillwater, and over the objections of his mother (whose parting words are "Don't use drugs!"), and after some stern advice from Bangs (who says under no circumstances should he become friends with a band he's covering), Williams joins Stillwater on tour, where he becomes friendly with guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee). William also becomes enamored of Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a groupie traveling with the band who is no older than William, but is deeply involved with Russell. Lester Bangs and Ben Fong-Torres, incidentally, were real-life rock writers Crowe worked with closely during his days as a journalist. Almost Famous' original score was composed by Nancy Wilson of Heart (who is also Crowe's wife).~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Review
Depending on when you walk in, Almost Famous is either a coming-of-age drama, a love story, an often funny but sometimes painful look at the bonds of family, or a celebration of the glorious, liberating intoxication of rock & roll. And what's most remarkable about Cameron Crowe's fourth (and best) film is that it covers all these bases with equal skill, and an amiable, sure-footed grace. Crowe has made no secret that this film was based closely on his own experiences as a teenage rock journalist, and he certainly knows the nooks and crannies of life on the road in the 1970s; from the backstage rituals to the endless rounds of hotel parties, the film never hits a false note as it follows Stillwater's steady rise to fame. But more importantly, Crowe knows how to draw characters, and what could have easily been a collection of two-dimensional stereotypes emerges instead as an ensemble of credible, flesh-and-blood people. Elaine (Frances McDormand), the mother who dislikes and distrusts rock & roll, isn't a narrow-minded harridan, but an intelligent and socially progressive woman who doesn't want to see her children fall into a destructive adolescent conformity. The "band-aides," most notably Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), aren't fame-obsessed sexual predators, but devoted fans who have their own way of showing their loyalty to the musicians whose work means so much to them. And 15-year-old William (Patrick Fugit) isn't some youth lost in rock & roll Babylon, but a kid jazzed at living out his dreams and going on his first great adventure, while remaining smart (and grounded) enough to see both the peaks and valleys of the life he's capturing in words. One of Crowe's strongest suits has always been his ability to draw fine performances from his actors, and that's hardly failed him here. Newcomer Patrick Fugit is a marvel of boyish wonder and mature-beyond-his-years perception as William, Frances McDormand does an Oscar-worthy turn as his mother Elaine, Billy Crudup and Jason Lee are superb as the battling frontmen of Stillwater, Kate Hudson delivers a star-making, thoroughly charming performance as Penny, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is superb in an all-too-brief appearance as gonzo rock journalist (and part-time mentor to William) Lester Bangs. And Crowe's strong, clear, but unobtrusive visual sense, as well as his superlative ear for pop music, serve this material splendidly. If Almost Famous has a flaw, it's the noticeable upshift in the rhythm of its last act, which feels like an attempt to rush the film to its conclusion. But if the worst thing you can say about Almost Famous is that you wish it had been a bit longer, it says a lot about how thoroughly pleasurable a film it really is. ~ Mark Deming, RoviCast
- Patrick Fugit - William Miller
- Billy Crudup - Russell Hammond
- Frances McDormand - Elaine Miller
- Kate Hudson - Penny Lane
- Jason Lee - Jeff Bebe
- Philip Seymour Hoffman - Lester Bangs
- Zooey Deschanel - Anita Miller
Credit
Clay Griffith - Art Director, Clayton R. Hartley - Art Director, Virginia Randolph-Weaver - Art Director, Jerry Ziesmer - Associate Producer, Marty P. Ewing - Associate Producer, Steven P. Saeta - Associate Producer, Scott M. Martin - Associate Producer, Gail Levin - Casting, Lisa Stewart - Co-producer, Michael Dennison - Costume Designer, Betsy Heimann - Costume Designer, Jerry Ziesmer - First Assistant Director, Cameron Crowe - Director, Joe Hutshing - Editor, Saar Klein - Editor, Nancy Wilson - Composer (Music Score), Danny Bramson - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Toll - Cinematographer, Ian Bryce - Producer, Cameron Crowe - Producer, Mindi Toback - Set Designer, Robert Greenfield - Set Designer, Charisse Cardenas - Set Designer, Conny Boettger-Marinos - Set Designer, Jeff Wexler - Sound/Sound Designer, Kelly Curtis - Technical Advisor, Cameron Crowe - Screenwriter, Charles Minsky - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Ed Jones - Visual Effects Supervisor, Michael Wilhoit - Supervising Sound Editor, MVFX - Visual Effects, Robert Greenfield - Set Decorator| Almost Elvis (2001 Film), Almost Destiny (Film) | |
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