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Almost Famous: Cameron Crowe
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Pretty much everything you've heard about the film is true, since word on the street is that Almost Famous is Absolutely Fabulous. It's ... everything you'd expect from a Cameron Crowe movie, and more.
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In addition to Crowe's witty and heartfelt writing, "Almost Famous" is rife with splendid performances. Fugit is credible as the keen yet emotionally-naive protagonist, and it is difficult not to empathize with him as his character experiences the euphoria of being in the 'cool crowd' for the very first time, is berated by his editors for missed deadlines, and experiences the heart-breaking realities of life on the road.
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A mere selection of songs from the fifty-plus tracks featured in the film, the nostalgic soundtrack for Cameron Crowe's homage to rock and roll, Almost Famous, plays like an ode to an era. Led Zeppelin, a band infamous for its reluctance to license its music, agreed to include That's the Way after watching an early cut of the movie. Elton John, Rod Stewart, Yes and Simon & Garfunkel tunes provide ample classic rock fodder, and David Bowie's live rendition of Lou Reed's Waiting for the Man hails the burgeoning glam-rock movement. Nancy Wilson, who scored the film... contributes two original tracks: Lucky Trumble and Fever Dog, a song by the movie's fictional rock band Stillwater. Other prominent contributions include tracks by the Allman Brothers Band, Clarence Carter, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Cat Stevens.
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In this way, Penny Lane is indicative of Almost Famous as a whole. Crowe is a humanist director if there ever was one in Hollywood, but niceness and gentleness of purpose don't necessarily constitute great art. In fact, they can operate against greatness if you love your characters too much to show their dark sides, or even their human sides. (By contrast, Jason Lee is all too capable at depicting his character's pronouncedly human envy and poutiness; he's trapped, though, in a movie that gets uncomfortable with sour emotions, and therefore we don't see nearly enough of Jeff to feel what his life is like.) All the minute attention spent on period costumes and decor would have been better spent on the characters, who ultimately seem aloof from their own film. Almost Famous is almost a movie, full of great ideas for characters and situations, but not yet able to make them as persuasive or affecting as it thinks they are. Grade: C+
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What thrums beneath "Almost Famous" is Cameron Crowe's gratitude. His William Miller is not an alienated bore, but a kid who had the good fortune to have a wonderful mother and great sister, to meet the right rock star in Russell (there would have been wrong ones), and to have the kind of love for Penny Lane that will arm him for the future and give him a deeper understanding of the mysteries of women. Looking at William--earnestly grasping his tape recorder, trying to get an interview, desperately going to Bangs for advice, terrified as Ben Fong-Torres rails about deadlines, crushed when it looks as if his story will be rejected--we know we're looking at a kid who has the right stuff and will go far. Someday he might even direct a movie like "Almost Famous." Note: Why did they give an R rating to a movie perfect for teenagers?
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If François Truffaut had written for Rolling Stone as a teen instead of for Cahiers du Cinéma and had made an autobiographical film about traveling with a rock band, it would have been very much like Almost Famous. Cameron Crowe’s charming coming-of-age film looks and sounds great with this digital transfer (crank those speakers!), and has some decent extras, including some of the director’s Rolling Stone articles (formatted so that they’re quite readable) and a slick, HBO-produced making-of documentary. In it, Crowe evokes the weirdness of being on the set with his real mother and Frances McDormand, who in the film plays a character based on his mother.
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Cameron Crowe