Almost Famous (2000)

Review:

For me, the seminal scene of “Almost Famous” comes when Lester Bangs (played by Philip Seymore Hoffman) expounds on how rock and roll has become an industry predicated on making as much money as possible. While he’s giving this speech to the young reporter William Miller, the camera cuts to Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) dancing alone on stage in an empty auditorium. She is a spectral vision of the fading idea that rock and roll could be the best of what we can become, a refuge from the soul crushing squalor of everyday life.

“Almost Famous” is a coming of age story but it is also a long overdue, fond farewell to the rock and roll of old. The story is based on writer-director Camerson Crowe’s real life experiences as a 15-year old reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine. William Miller is Crowe’s counterpart in the film. He is a boy who, along with his sister Anita (Zooey Deschanel) has grown up under the rigid eye of his protective mother Elaine (Frances McDormand). When Anita decides she’s had enough of her mom, she decides to run away form home and become a flight stewardess. To young William, she imparts her record collection and forever instills in him a love and awe for rock and roll.

William is an outcast at school. He is two year younger than his fellow classmates and on route to graduate at the age of 15. To make up for a lack of friends, he writes rock reviews for underground publications. Taking note of his work, rock critic Lester Bangs hires William to cover a black Sabbath concert. While attending the concert he meets Penny Lane, a groupie (or ‘Band-Aid’) for the opening band Stillwater. William befriends Stillwater’s lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and soon he is on the road with them, writing a cover story for Rolling Stone Magazine, who’s editors are unaware that William is 15.

The majority of the film takes place on the road at the various concerts and parties along the way. William has to balance his reporting responsibilities with the new experiences he seems to be meeting around ever turn. Some of the great laughs in the film come when William must talk on the phone with his mother, who is terribly concerned for his well being under the supervision of rock stars. Frances McDormand doesn’t have too much screen time in this film, but her comedic presence is felt and felt powerfully.

Billy Crudup is also excellent as the guitarist Russell, whose musical ability is superior to his band mates and causing some tension in their musical outfit. “Almost Famous” is almost as much his story as William’s.

But more so than a coming of age story, this film is a heartfelt glance into rock and roll’s transformative power and then what eventually transformed rock and roll. In Cameron Crowe’s authorial eye, rock and roll was once about being young and alive and it changed into a corporate monster where people became the commodities and women were traded for beer.

But these are the dark undercurrents…

”Almost Famous” is a genuinely funny and touching film, fit for everyone and anyone who’s ever lit a candle and listened to ‘Tommy’ to see what their future holds.

Rating:

On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is a “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” (1984).

Rationalization:

This film is so good. If you’re like me, the first time you see it, you can just get caught up in the magic and whirlwind of the myth its showing you. Then upon second viewing, you can sense something darker but that just makes the film all the better. I almost wouldn't change a thing. I realize, I haven’t even commented on the music yet. The soundtrack is great. I’m an old man insofar as I think rock and roll’s absolute hey-day began in the early 60s and ended in the early 70s. Every album William’s sister gives to him at the beginning of the film is a rock and roll masterwork. If they’re not already, they should all be on your ipod right now. And “Tiny Dancer” – is there a more fitting song to cheer you up? I don’t think so.