Almost Famous (2000)

Almost Famous is the gripping story of a boy on a journey. William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is a boy growing up with an over protective mother (Francis McDormand). When his older sister Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel) turns eighteen and breaks free of their mothers clutches, she leaves William one final gift, and tells him it's under his bed.

What you find will set you free? his sister tells him, and indeed what he finds is album after album after album of what his mother considers to be drug and sex music stashed under his bed. Cut to four years later and we find William a loner high school student, with his only friends being Rock and Roll. He has taken to being a young Rock journalist, and after a chance interview with Still Water for his school magazine, and a chance encounter with their Band aid Miss Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), Rolling Stone magazine offer him the opportunity to go on tour with Still Water and get them an article.

The ensuing tour has to be a great example of what film should be. It provides a great insight into the 1970?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Rock scene and shows what music was before the days of music videos and online marketing, when small bands toured the country in an old bus, accompanied only with drugs and groupies. The classic band relationship, with the lead guitar Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) duelling with each other for the limelight (the T-Shirt scene being one of my favourites), the incompetent manager and so on, is perfectly performed, and the look is completely realistic, with the long hair and the big bushy moustaches they play a 70's rock band perfectly.

The film is seen through the eyes of William Miller, which is an autobiographical Cameron Crowe (Director). This provides just the right amount of knowledge and the right amount of questions to ask. By looking through his eyes you really experience his feelings, his frustration at not being able to get his review with Russell, his respect for the band, his fear of upsetting his mother and the magazine, and his liking of Penny Lane.

Although an initially dark and moody piece, it perfectly manages to intertwine it with elements of comedy, and the subtle underlying love story of Penny. Crowe has perfectly developed some great characters to empathise with, especially with William, his Mother, Penny and Russell.

The comedy, as said before really helps to lighten the piece and shows that Crowe can write some very varied work and isn't afraid to have a little fun. For example, the party scene where Russell takes acid and climbs the roof to jump off, William says Russell, if you have to jump, tell me your final words to which Russell replies

ON DRUGS!This scene also provides a small sneaky reference from Crowe to the real world of music, in that when Russell reaches the top of his climb he stands and shouts I AM A GOLDEN GOD! which Led Zeppelin musician Robert Plant is reported to have shouted sober while looking over the Sunset Strip from a balcony.

Overall this is a truly fantastic piece of film from Cameron Crowe, with great acting all around but especially from the lead Patrick Fugit who kept it believe and made the film a stunning success. Definitely one of my top ten films, I loved it from start to finish. No criticisms at all from me. 10/10 for a stunning film.