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If more directors could look at their characters with insight, compassion,  and affection, like Cameron Crowe does in Almost Famous, going to the movies would be a more rewarding experience.  This is Crowe's best film yet.  There may not be, in fact, a better one in theatres this year. 

William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is a young journalist in the early 70s who starts writing rock and roll reviews for Creem Magazine. He gets noticed for his work, and quickly finds favor with the staff at Rolling Stone.

The world's most respected rock critic, Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), Bangs warns Patrick that, because he wields the power of the pen, rock stars will try to buy his affections.  After all, he can make them look "cool."  "Be honest but merciless," Bangs says.  "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool." 

Bearing Lester's advice in mind, William weasels his way into a tour with the up-and-coming band Stillwater. Noisy, enthusiastic, and gifted with a brilliant guitarist, Stillwater just might be on the way to the cover of Rolling Stone.  What William doesn't quite expect to find is that there are confused, unpredictable, and rather dangerous human beings behind these famous facades. Penny Lane, a mysterious, charismatic woman who calls herself a  "Band-aid"  (more professional than a "groupie"), becomes William's tour guide through the vanity fair of rock-and-roll stardom. Following beautiful Penny, he faces a whole new world of temptations.

William's adventures are punctuated by phone calls from his mother (Frances McDormand), who is panicking back home.  She begs him to stay clean, to come back home, to graduate from high school.  And she pieces together from scraps of overheard conversation that her son is in severe moral... perhaps mortal...peril. Most rock-and-roll films can be divided into two categories: There's the "seize the day" group, which regards any authority as stodgy, narrow-minded, confining, and evil.  Footloose is the best example, laughing at the conservative parents and affirming the rebels.  And then there are the "wages of sin" films, which follow heroes on long painful downward spirals into self-destruction.  Sid and Nancy comes to mind.

I'll admit...even though I was having fun, I expected Almost Famous to lead me down the familiar Footloose path. I expected to see William's mother portrayed as stupid, evil, overbearing.  Instead, something wonderful happened. The perspective of Almost Famous is large, compassionate, and as wide-eyed with wonder as William himself.  It walks a tightrope, never endorsing the "seize the day" indulgence of the rock stars (although it is honest about the pleasures of that world), and never judging the rebels either, allowing them to learn some moral lessons along the way.  William's mother, while narrow-minded and a little too fearful, comes across as loving, human, and honorable.  She wants to protect her son from dangers that are very real. 

You can tell that the characters in this movie are based on real people from Crowe's own experience.  I feel like I could find them somewhere and interview them myself.  They're not caricatures. They're not political stances.  They're not stereotypes.  You can't divide them into good guys and bad guys.  But you can see the struggle of love against selfishness in each person.  Each of them wrestle with their own compromises, avoiding commitment and responsibility at all costs.  They all want to be "cool."  They all want to control their own lives.  And all of them suffer disappointment and failure.

But all of them are beautiful. All of them are characters worth redeeming. They have beautiful dreams, and they work hard to bring those dreams to life.  We understand them.  We want them to make it. -Almost Famous_ is, ultimately, a movie about selflessness.  It is about what we can lose through self-interest, and what we can gain through giving ourselves to others, in faithfulness, in friendship, and in honesty. 

Patrick Fugit takes on the large, complicated part of William with a natural air of innocence and amazement.  His eyes say it all. They're always wide, drinking in the wild sights.  And yet, there's a brain behind those eyes.  It's impressive to see a young man of some moral character and integrity on the big screen.  Yes, his virginity is endangered, and he's tempted to experiment with drugs.  But he honors his mother quite admirably considering the pressure.  He gives the movie a strong center.

The other actors are very strong, and good enough to refrain from stealing the spotlight.  Jason Lee is absolutely perfect as the lead singer of Stillwater, who suffers a bad case of spotlight-envy.  He struts and poses like a true rock star, yet with his own kinder, gentler character, which saves him from doing merely a Jagger or Morrison impression.  He steals almost every scene he's in.  While Lee is a noisy gust of wind, Billy Crudup plays Russell, the guitarist, as a quiet storm, mysterious, jittery, unpredictable.  After this film, Crudup will probably become a big star Kate Hudson, as Penny Lane, is fantastic.  She makes the character ache with desire as she stares at Russell across a crowded concert hall.  She sparkles with wit and intelligence as she guides William.  And then she soars in her more private moments, dallying on a deserted dance floor.  Reportedly her best scene, a long solo dance, was trimmed to mere seconds in order to shorten the film.  Too bad.  If I have any complaint about the film at all, it's that it ends too quickly.

John Toll might well earn an Oscar for making these folks look so good.   Toll, who filmed "Braveheart" and "The Thin Red Line", has an eye for magical light, for those fleeting but defining facial expressions, for the glint in a character's eye.   If I were to make a movie, he'd be my first choice at the camera.

Cameron Crowe, director of Say Anything, Singles, and Jerry Maguire, has given us a gift with this semi-autobiographical account of his days as a Rolling Stone writer in the heyday of Led Zeppelin.  With all of the flash and glitter and gloss, this is definitely a Hollywood movie.  But it packs more heart into two hours than any recent Oscar winner, and more intelligence too. 

After the movie, I kept saying to myself, "How did they get away with such an upbeat ending?  How did they pull off such a sappy finale without setting off my Sentimentality Alarm?"  Probably because the whole movie reeks of authenticity. You really get the feeling that, no matter how unlikely, this is how it really happened.  It's not just a happy ending... it's a SINCERELY happy ending.    Just as he did in Jerry Maguire, Cameron Crowe finds hope for the broken.  And it's not empty hope. 

It occurred to me, in retrospect, that naive William becomes  something of a Christ figure.  He leaves the fearful, judgmental world of his mother and becomes "a member of the band".  Virtue, betrayal, and tragedy follow.  And in the end, he has been a light in their dark world.

Jeffrey Overstreet 9/15/2000
 
 

If someone ever decides to make a movie of my life, I hope Cameron Crowe is the one to direct it. From his film beginnings as the writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High and director of the sweet teen romance Say Anything,
Crowe has shown a remarkable affinity for ordinary people. His compassion and willingness to downplay the faults of even the most fallen--think of Tom Cruise's character in Jerry Maguire--is in stark contrast to the superior tone and sarcasm Hollywood often evokes.

That merciful attitude is on full display in his new film, Almost Famous. Written by Crowe and based, in part, on his own adolescence, the movie is a coming-of-age piece about William Miller, a young music journalist who gets
a shot at writing an article about an up-and-coming rock band. But first he has to convince his mother (played by Frances McDormand, Fargo) that it's ok. You see, William's only 15. After promising, however, that he'll be
home before finals and won't touch drugs, William is allowed to go on a short tour with the band Stillwater.

There he meets a whole cavalcade of rock stars and hangers-on. The band is fronted by Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee, Dogma), the lead singer who has visions of the big time, and Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup, Jesus' Son), the guitarist who thinks he's a better musician than his bandmates. There's also Penny Lane, Polexia, and Sapphire (played by Kate Hudson, Anna Paquin, and Fairuza Balk, respectively), a trio of teenage groupies who try to
glamorize their position by calling themselves the Band-Aids. If none of these characters are being honest with themselves, Crowe doesn't dwell on their self-deception. Instead he shows how these dreams are integral parts
of who they are.

The biggest dreamer of the bunch might be William himself. Though his mentor Lester Bangs (the real-life guru behind Creem magazine) warns him that the corporate machine has taken over the rock industry, Miller still
believes in the power of three chords and the truth--his first question in an interview is "What do you love about rock music?" And though he's immediately smitten by Penny Lane, he spends a good part of the movie trying to keep her and Hammond together, never realizing that she's merely a transitory figure until Hammond's real girlfriend arrives.

As the tour stretches across the country, William bonds with Russell, watches the band grow and argue, and loses his virginity in a sequence inspired by equal parts Greek myth and teenage masturbatory fantasies. It's only near the end of the tour (New York City, interestingly enough) where hard reality brings some of the dreams to a halt. Even there, though, Crowe doesn't set his characters up for a wicked fall, but instead lets them down gently, commiserating with them as they struggle, hoping for them as they latch on to new dreams. One terrific scene involves William dancing with Penny. Unfortunately, Penny has overdosed, and Miller is just trying to keep her awake until the doctor comes, but it gives him an opportunity to tell her how much he loves her.

This earnest respect for young love and immature dreams is central to Almost Famous. Early on in the film, William's older sister announces she's leaving home by referring to an old Simon and Garfunkle song. Sure enough, "America" starts playing over the soundtrack, but it doesn't cut off at the first verse like any other movie would. No, Crowe plays it through to the final chorus as if to admonish the audience that it's ok to be inspired by
a folk song, and wouldn't you, too, strike out on your own after hearing these words?

The movie doesn't set up the adults as the villains, either. William's mom is genuinely trying her best, the editors of Rolling Stone are trying to be fair, and even cynical Lester Bangs is hoping the kid will succeed. There won't be any cheap shots or strawmen here.

All of this warmth and affirmation might have become cloying were it not for the rock-solid performances that undergird the film. Billy Crudup, who was great in Jesus' Son, gives another wonderful performance as the
guitarist who takes William under his wing. McDormand is her usual fantastic self as a single mom trying to balance understanding and control. Patrick Fugit, making his film debut as William, is a master of the
wide-eyed reaction shot; and his electric chemistry with Kate Hudson makes you wish their relationship was the focus of the film. And what can I write about Philip Seymour Hoffman (as Lester Bangs) except that he makes every film he's in worth seeing?

Some critics are describing Almost Famous as the best movie of the year, an exaggeration due in part to the miserable Hollywood summer we've left behind. For my money, I'd like my best film candidates to be more than just great stories. But it is true that you might not find a more entertaining film this fall than Almost Famous. With fabulous characters and a director with a merciful eye, this one is sure to please. Mr. Crowe, I'm ready for
my close-up. 

J. Robert Parks 9/26/2000

For a movie about the hotel and dressing rooms of a rock-and-roll band, Almost Famous is surprisingly clean. Drug use is hinted at, though never shown, and there's almost no nudity or on-screen sex. Nonetheless, the movie certainly accepts the rock scene, with its accompanying free sex and drugs, as a viable lifestyle, particularly for the young. Those who find that viewpoint too offensive or, on the other hand, too attractive may want to avoid Crowe's lovenest.