Almost Famous

It is a complete joke that this film is in the top 250 and has such a high rating. I have always thought the ratings on here to be VERY accurate and reliable. When this abortion of a movie was about to play on cable I looked it up on the IMDB to see if it was worth my time and when I saw the rating I knew for sure I had to see it. Boy was I wrong... it is total drivel. I also am a huge Frances McDormand fan and her small part in this is lame and not believable at all. There is very little about this story that is believable in fact. It started off fairly promising but quickly disintegrated into awfulness. I have been on the road with a fairly successful rock band and worked for some other smaller bands and this portrayal is nonsense. The groupies, the writers and magazine people are so contrived and cliche, as are the members of Stillwater. The girl who OD's and the whole OD scene is terrible and total fluff. Oh, and the ending totally bites too. I can go on and on but I will close by repeating how offended I am by the score this movie recieves and the reviews I have read praising this pathetic load of horse manure. Hopefully, people who know what a good film is will get on here and vote this mess out of the top 250. 1 out of 10

Almost Famous (2000) **** (out of 4) Cameron Crowe's masterpiece about high schooler William Miller (Patrick Fugit) who gets a job with Rolling Stone to do a story on an upcoming band named Stillwater. The young and naive kid gets to go out on the road with them where he quickly grows up and sees that the world isn't always perfect. ALMOST FAMOUS is one of the greatest coming of age movies ever made and it's perhaps the greatest love story to rock 'n roll ever filmed. I think a strong argument could also be made that it's the greatest film of the decade as well. There's so much love and passion during every single scene that you can't help but see and feel that this is Crowe's baby and it's easy to see why since much of this is based on his life growing up. This film contains so many terrific moments but I think what makes it so special are the various relationships that are built on the road. This includes William trying to mix it up with the band's guitar player (Billy Crudup) who refuses to give him an interview as well as the girl (Kate Hudson) that both of them love for different reasons. The overly worried mother (Frances McDormand) is perfectly written and thrown into the story for some comic relief but even the smaller characters are so well-written and detailed that by the time the movie is over it's almost like you've seen a documentary of a real band. Crowe's direction has never been better as this film has quite a bit of different emotions going for it yet he perfectly holds it together and really makes the film take off to levels one wouldn't expect. As a fan of rock and roll you have to love the behind-the-scenes look at a tour and the various problems that come from the sex and drugs. You also have to have fun and admire this young kid being able to go out on the road as this would be an ultimate dream job for many. The film mixes in some terrific music but the highlight is of course 'Tiny Dancer' from Elton John, which is without question one of the best and most magical scenes from any movie. The performances are all a major plus from the bigger acts to the smaller roles. Everyone fits their roles perfectly and help bring the story to life. ALMOST FAMOUS is a flawless picture that just keeps getting better with each new viewing. Some say the film is too soft and should have attacked the music harder or been more raw but I really disagree with these comments. The film is a love story to the music and one of the greatest out there.

The casting of Almost Famous is perfection. The music is sublime; Would one expect anything less with Nancy Wilson at the helm of the soundtrack? The cost of syncing some of the most iconic classic rock songs must have cost investors a pretty penny - it was money well-spent, as the film thrives on one of the best soundtrack syncs in movie history. Almost Famous is classic Cameron Crowe - a semi-autobiographical film that pulls from his own experiences as a young journalist with Rolling Stone magazine in its glory daze of the early 1970's. Yes, most of the events in the movie (including the airplane scene) really DID happen with Crowe there to witness (albeit being an amalgam of different bands and circumstances Cameron covered as a rock journalist). You care about the characters who are developed and illuminated throughout the film. Crowe's spot-on casting and "actors' director" prowess serves as a catalyst for the actors, inspiring the cast to draw out the intimate feelings and thoughts of each character without crossing into melodrama - The result is an acting ensemble tour de force. Almost Famous is a must-see for both classic-rock fans and movie lovers at large. You get to witness several breakout early-career performances including Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschannel, Billy Crudup, and yes, even Jimmy Fallon. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Francis McDormand are as usual, nearly flawless. Get a back-stage pass to this fabulous movie - a loving ode to the early 70's twilight days of the classic rock era.

The inexplicably high IMDB rating for "Almost Famous" just serves to illustrate how unbearably wretched most Hollywood movies are these days. People go to see something which does not insult their intelligence, has competent acting by a good-looking cast, and is entertaining for most of its running time - BINGO! It gets a "10". Once upon a time, films like "Almost Famous" were the minimum you could expect from a major release. Now, it shines like a lighthouse beacon on a rocky shore. Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed this flick, but there is nothing particularly memorable or outstanding about it. I was in high school during the era depicted, and it does a good job of evoking the flavor and fashions of those times. It is a nostalgic look back at a period when rock music was still fresh and not yet being used to sell beer and cars. But the plot was thoroughly predictable, and everyone was so NICE that I almost fell asleep. Gotta love that Dream Team of 'band-aids' though - Fairuza Balk has never been hotter!!

A self-indulgent, overblown myopic film! Highly overrated. It appears that Cameron Crowe believes that everyone will be enthralled with the details of his childhood. WOW, Cameron gets laid! I grew up (did Cameron?) in exactly the same time period and truly felt that this film did not come close to capturing the essence of the time.

This film may have just one flaw- it aims too high. But that doesn't matter in this world. Here, we see the autobiographical tale of Cameron Crowe (writer/director and co-producer of this film) in his days as a young writer for Rolling Stone (one story I think) as seen by William Miller. He follows a rock band called Stillwater (much to mom's dismay played well by Frances McDormand) on a Almost Famous tour with rockers, groupies and bandaids. Real sweetness comes when the worlds of Miller and the band combine and dramedy kicks in. Quite the Crowe picture, one of his best ones, that takes a look at the days of rock when it was still cool to do drugs, have sex and be cool singing Elton John in a bus (that scene was the highlight). Band members include Billy Crudup, Jason Lee and others including Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, and in a exceptional performance, the free spirited Penny Lane played by Kate Hudson. This film is definately in my top 25 list of the year. A-

In previous comments I have bashed this movie. I gave this movie a 1/10 and as I look back, I think I've misjudged this film. It is worse than bad, it is disturbing. This movie represents everything that is wrong with society. And No, i'm not talking about the sex, drugs and rock and roll element. Lets look at the bigger picture by first of all reviewing the basic plot. A youth dreams of being a writer and following around a rock band. This dream comes true which brings about encounters with roadies,sex with roadies, drugs with roadies and rock and roll with roadies. Now, to the logical mind, this plot would sound like something you would find in a hollywood trash can. But, to the macdonalds eating, nike wearing, gap buying corporate brainwashed citizens of the Americas, this sounds like "the best movie ever made." I don't mean to insult anybody but I do expect people to start thinking on a higher level. With a let down ending, a sappy, meaningless story, (that caters to people who think nsync is great music)Crowe manages to create an unheroic and inferior movie which is perfect for a society that doesn't bother looking for anything better. Almost Famous, Almost Friends, Almost Britney Spears, call it what you will but I call it a cataract. Maybe these comments don't sit well with people, but do keep in mind they were well thought out and have a right to be seen.

William has an overprotective mother, and his sister has already been driven away by her refusal to accept her children's ambitions and interests. William finds solace in his sister's music collection and begins to dream of a life as a rock journalist. At 15 William manages to land a assignment with Rolling Stone Magazine to interview an up and coming band called Stillwater, and he quickly finds himself immersed in the life his mother so desperately wanted to protect him from. And so the story begins, as William tours with the band, we are taken on a journey of mistrust, discovery, deceit and disappointment; interlaced with the hard truths about the bands lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, sex and music. Almost Famous pulls no punches, and is a deep insight into the dream that became an ambition, that became a harsh reality. Packed with top class performances all round and great music score Almost Famous delivers, and delivers with attitude and realism that is rarely captured on film. A must see for Fans of the genre, but there's certainly enough here for everyone. 9/10

There was a time in the US rock circuit before music videos and online marketing. That was the time when several little-known bands toured all over the country... accompanied mostly by drugs and groupies. Writer-director Cameron Crowe takes us to that infamous scene of sex, drugs and rock n' roll in the 1970's with this semi-autobiographical work, which is not only equipped with his brilliant direction and screenplay, but also by decent performances by some relatively lesser-known actors. Here the introduction of a not-too-famous band, an imaginary one called Stillwater, was important. In that sense, Stillwater is a perfect work by Crowe... with a volatile relationship between the vocalist and the guitarist, with a noncompetent manager and everything that comes with. There were also the groupies, who became a matter of substance in Crowe's point of view. But the most extraordinary thing that Crowe did is the image of himself as a 15-year-old writing prodigy, rock journalist William Miller. The viewers watch the movie through Miller's eyes. The character is extremely well-designed and reserved by Crowe. Miller's the one who becomes able to attach all the parts into a complete movie alone. Billy Crudup was probably the best among the actors as guitarist Russell Hammond. It's true his role was not a tough one, but he's the one who made it look so easy. Young Kate Hudson, as Penny Lane, is perfect and very adorable. She showed her potentials in this movie which seemed even better than her mother, Goldie Hawn. All she needs are decent roles in future. The other actors, namely Jason Lee as vocalist Jeff, Frances McDormand as Williams's over-protective mother and the other band-aids (with Oscar-winner Anna Paquin) performed also quite well. And newcomer Patrick Fugit, as Miller himself, is really brilliant. Gaining more screen time than anyone else, it was a tough test for Fugit and it is all praises for him. The soundtrack was very good with some fine original songs. There may be some minor flaws in the movie, like some unnecessary sequences, but all over this is a quite masterful work... a feast for the mind and soul, both for a hard rock n' roll fan and for casual viewers.

There's a (by now) well-known scene early on in ALMOST FAMOUS when William Miller is poring through the records his older sister Anita has left behind for him since she ran off from home. Inside the album cover of The Who's TOMMY, she leaves William a note, telling him to listen to this with a candle lit, and he'll be able to see his future. He puts on the record, "Sparks" comes on, and the look on his face as he listens is the look every rock fan will recognize. There's been tons of stuff written about rock-n-roll music, from those who think, like William's mother Elaine, that it's a corrupting influence(or those who go even farther and consider it "the devil's music"), to those who insist the music is meaningless and to take it seriously smacks of pretension, because it's "only music." And then there are people like Cameron Crowe, who recognize rock-n-roll, and the music which came in its wake, is the shared experience of many people starting from the 1950's, in the way maybe that plays and earlier types of music were in centuries before. Sure, there's television and movies as well, but rock music is shorter and more direct. And sure, it can just be fun and a way to cut loose once in a while, but it's also something which can speak to what we love, what we long for, what we're afraid of, what we think, what wounds us inside, and so much more. Because Crowe is a fan, he's able to capture all of this in his movie. It's not just in the obvious moments, like the people on the tour bus singing along to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," which lifts them out of their black mood, or singer Jeff Bebe leading everybody into singing "On the Cover of Rolling Stone" when he learns he and his fellow bandmates will be on the cover. It's in the wild spirit of people like Sapphire, one of the Band-Aids(read: groupies) who follow the band Stillwater and others as they tour the U.S., or in the more tender spirit of someone like her sister Band-Aid Penny Lane, who believes she and the other Band-Aids serve as a muse to bands like Stillwater, and who soaks in all of her experiences like a sponge. It's also in William, who tries(like Crowe did) to balance reporting with his very obvious love for the music. And it's especially in the line I quoted from at the top, which Sapphire says to Stillwater guitarist Russell Hammond late in the movie. To be sure, the road of rock-n-roll isn't all covered in roses. There's outrageous behavior(like how Russell treats Penny, or William losing his virginity to three of the groupies), drugs, excess, and yes, pretension(like when Jeff lectures Penny about the power of rock-n-roll and then adds, "And the chicks are cool, right?" But those who wanted this to be more like THIS IS SPINAL TAP are missing the point. This isn't a movie about the obvious problems and silliness in rock music. It's about what still draws people to it, and though Crowe acknowledges these people's faults, he still loves them for who they are. Of course, there's a lot more reasons why ALMOST FAMOUS is a great movie besides its love of rock-n-roll. It's well acted across the board(in addition to all the performances mentioned several times, I'd like to highlight Fairuza Balk as Sapphire; not only does she get the best line in the movie(along with Frances McDormand's "Don't take drugs!" and "Rock stars have kidnapped my son") with that line about music(I also like what she and the other groupies yell as they're about to deflower William, "Death to Opie!"), but she also captures the carefree spirit of the time. She may not be important plot wise, but if you took her character out, the movie would be missing something), it's a terrific coming-of-age story, it's a bittersweet love story, the dialogue is great, and it looks terrific. But it's Crowe's obvious love for the music, and for the people who love it, that makes ALMOST FAMOUS the best thing I've seen so far this year.