Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” is a nostalgic film that takes place during the 70’s. The film focuses on Cameron Crowe’s life as a fifteen-year old boy though the name of the main character is named William Miller (Patrick Fugit). The film starts off with him as an eleven-year old living with his over controlling mother (Frances McDormand) and his rebellious sister (Zooey Deschanel). His sister leaves home to become a stewardess and leaves a massive record collection under his bed. William learns the true meaning of rock and roll and writes critiques on music for his school paper. He then runs into famous rock and roll critic Lester Bangs (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) at a radio interview, Will and Lester hit it right off and become good friends. Bangs gives William an assignment to interview Black Sabbath where he meets “band-aide” Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) and her entourage. Penny helps William get backstage with the opening band Stillwater. He interviews singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and meets the guitarist of Stillwater, Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup). Russell and Penny begin to “hit it off” backstage. William and Penny get to see Stillwater perform, and after the show he be-friends Penny and the members of Stillwater. The next day he gets a call from the editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen) to do an article in the magazine, William disguises his voice to sound older, and convinces Ben to do an article on Stillwater for one thousand dollars. He leaves home to go on tour with Stillwater, and the “band-aides”. Where hilarity, trouble, and relationships ensue.

This film is great for anyone who loves music and looking for a good time to re-live the 70’s. Most of the events that happened in the film happened to Cameron Crowe when he was following The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Eagles. The film has a lot of memorable moments and lovable characters. Patrick Fugit’s performance is top notch as well as Kate Hudson’s performance as the promiscuous Penny Lane. Another great thing about “Almost Famous” is the soundtrack; all the songs set a perfect mood for each scene. A great example is when Russell “quits” Stillwater and William runs into a fiasco cause Russell takes too much acid at a party out in the suburbs of Topeka, Kansas. The next morning the band comes to pick up Russell and William, and everybody in the tour bus rejoices by singing Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” It’s moments like this where “Almost Famous” really stands out. “Almost Famous” is a great film for all ages and a classic that will go down in film and music history.