Almost Famous

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I just recently bought this DVD after years of seeing it on the shelf and never having picked it up. I am sorry I didn't after watching it. The extra scenes make the movie even better after having seen it a few times over the last few years. The cd containing 6 Stillwater tracks is also a bonus. If you love this movie, this edition is worth picking up.

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Almost Famous

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" Almost Famous" is at the top of my 'Top Ten Favorites' list. Patrick Fugit is so amazingly talented, and it just blew me away that it was his first movie. No other actor could've played the part of William Miller better than him.
My favorite parts of the movie are when he runs to The Plaza Hotel to comfort a drug-overdosed Penny Lane, he tells Penny he loves her, and when Russell Hammond apologizes to William about Rolling Stone.
I love how it has a sweet ending of William and Russell parting on good terms, and William's story finally being published in Rolling Stone.

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Almost Famous

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To be completely honest, when I first saw this film about five years ago I was under-whelmed. It had been hyped up and won all sorts of awards and received so much attention, and really I didn't see why. I was disappointed to say the least. Then last night I decided to give it another shot. Removing myself completely from the hype and praise and just amercing myself into the film was a huge plus for me, and I walked away from the experience singing it's praises like a church choir. The film moved me in ways I didn't remember the first time; its rich sense of honesty ringing through with every frame. The script is so real and raw, which I attest to the fact that director Cameron Crowe wrote this as a semi-autobiographic tale, and that first hand insight really gives `Almost Famous' an edge as possible his best film to date (and that's saying a lot since he has always been a genuinely talented director).

`Almost Famous' tells the story of William Miller (a fictional representation of Cameron Crowe), a young kid sheltered by his mothers iron fist, the same fist that drove away his older sister Anita. At fifteen Miller gets the chance of a lifetime, to follow around the rockband Stillwater and write an article for Rolling Stone about the band on the road. What he finds within their world is something starkly contrasts to anything he imagined. It is a world that entices and appeals to him, but at the same time it's a world that conflicts with his inner person, especially as he watches the fame tear the band apart and take out innocent bystanders in the wake. Stillwater is still trying to find its sea-legs so-to-speak and the process proceeds to shake up the members and all those in their company.

The performances by most the entire cast is strong and lends much support to Crowe's vision. Billy Crudup and Jason Lee are effective as the feuding band leaders. Crudup plays Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist filled with mystery, the one that everyone wants to be with. Crudup does a good job of filtering through his characters inner contempt for the corruption within his profession. When he's speaking with William's mother in the phone you can read in his voice his disgust with the whole `fame and fortune' aspect of his life. Jason Lee is slightly less effective as Jeff Bebe, the jealous lead singer of Stillwater. I didn't think he could completely sell his character. I've never been impressed with Lee to tell the truth, and while his performance is not `terrible' it is merely passable here. He tends to try and oversell things, and it got on my nerves a tad. Patrick Fugit still seems a little green to me (but then again, when this was made he was green, right?) but he has a feeling of honesty in his performance that works well for what Crowe was attempting. Fugit comes off uncomfortable with his performance, which I think aids in creating the vibe that he is a real fifteen-year-old kid who, lets face it, is pretty uncomfortable with himself.

The three standouts here though are McDormand, Hoffman and especially Hudson, all of whom raise the bar for the rest of the actors in the film. Philip Seymour Hoffman is rarely seen moving around, but his grasp of his characters idealisms has a strong influence on the film. Frances McDormand really gets under her characters skin (that of William's overbearing mother Elaine) and draws out such unrestrained emotion that you can't help but feel for her in every scene, even the ones she doesn't embody. For every scene she is not though, there is Kate Hudson, who is so effervescent as Penny Lane I can't help but adore her. Her innocent devotion to a machine that just wants to use her, a machine that doesn't care enough about her to deserve her unwavering adoration is just so raw and believable and sympathetically captivating I just can't help but fall in love with her.

Truth be told though, this film is all about Cameron Crowe. His stamp of reality is felt on every frame. The audience is allowed to become completely absorbed into the world in which he himself was found at such a young age (at eighteen Crowe wrote for Rolling Stone Magazine, and this film is based on his `adventures' so-to-speak). His direction is flawless, but even more amazing is the script, which bleeds on every page the smell of honesty. It may not be my favorite script of the year (`You Can Count on Me' remains one of my favorite screenplays ever written) but it is certainly one of them.

`Almost Famous' truly has that extra something (not to mention the amazing soundtrack), that honesty that makes it worth every second of your time. Cameron Crowe really put himself completely into this picture, and the finished product is something he can truly be proud of, and something we can all praise him unflinchingly for.

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