Almost Famous (2000) Movie Review

"Almost Famous" is based on the real-life ventures of auteur Cameron Crowe, who landed a gig with "Rolling Stone," one of the most widely read and respected publications in the music industry, at the age of 15. As he meets up-and-coming rock group "Stillwater" on the road with a notepad in hand, the production follows child prodigy William Miller (Patrick Fugit) first for the local underground journal "Creem" and then for the same influential publication that Crowe put his by-line some years ago. When the band members perform on the stage to cheering audiences and clash backstage with each other, they struggle with the fleeting qualities of fame.

The beautiful Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) is one such temptation, who prefers not to see herself as a "groupie," but rather a "Band Aid" alongside her other attractive friends who travel with the partly married group but insist that their motivation is not sex. As the teenage flirt obsesses with band member Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), she seems to be unaware of her appeal to the virgin protagonist of the film and thus establishes a multi-tier relationship without all the mawkish sentimentality typically present in such love-triangles of Hollywood.

Source: IMDB.com

Music has been an essential part of cinema dating back to the days when a classical ensemble would accompany and continue silent films with a live score in a way that would make Darwin proud through the recent re-release of the classic "This is Spinal Tap" by Rob Reiner. And while documentaries such as "The Buena Vista Social Club", and "Instrument: 10 Years with the Fugazi Band". In many respects, while "Stillwater," the community at the core of the movie, is fictional, "Almost Famous" provides the most honest and full look at such a life so far. Together with many other films, worthy attempts have been made to depict this better, but "Almost Famous" feels too genuine to be ignored due to another multi-billion-dollar industry in Tinseltown.

Of course, this is because much of what is on screen is heavily dependent on the facts. Bangs invented the term "heavy metal" after passing away at age 33 and left a significant impact on the worlds of music and music journalism. And, indeed, Bangs experimented with the "Creem" underground before surfacing a few years before his death with the even more notable "Time Out New York."

Source: IMDB.com

However, "Almost Famous" is not about a rock 'n' roll party entirely. As described before, the film has an enjoyable and plausible series of romantic plots that are never overlooked, even if Crowe's choice to step in the direction of abandonment favouring pure musical drama might have been much sexier. The movie also marks the return of Cameron Crowe to the writing of high school characters. Instead of trying to pen the slang dialogue of today's rebels, Crowe is clever in writing this film to stick with that generation, something he certainly wouldn't be as good at. But, then again, the near-perfection of "Almost Famous" can only be the result of a helmer who is good at almost anything.