Audiences and critics alike are raving about this larger-than-life rock’n ‘roll favorite that Roger Ebert calls “one of the best movies of the year!” The guys of Stillwater have the sound, they have the look and Rolling Stone Magazine wants their story. For young reporter William Miller, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime as he hits the road with his favorite band and discovers the price of fame, the value of family and the limits of friendship.Almost Famous is the movie Cameron Crowe has been waiting a lifetime to tell. The fictionalization of Crowe’s days as a teenage reporter for Creem and Rolling Stone has all the well-written characters and wonderful “movie moments” that we expect from Crowe (Jerry Maguire), but the film has an intangible something extra–an insider’s touch that will turn the film into the ode to ’70s rock & roll for years to come. We are introduced to Crowe’s alter ego, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), at home, where his progressive mom (Frances McDormand, just superb) has outlawed rock music and sister Anita (Zooey Deschanel) has slipped him LPs that will “set his mind free.” Following the wisdom of Creem‘s disheveled editor, Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman in an instant-classic performance), Miller gets on the inside with the up-and-coming band Stillwater (a fictionalized mixture of the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, and others). A simple visit with the band turns into a three-week, life-altering odyssey into the heyday of American rock. Of the characters he meets on the road, the two most important are groupie extraordinaire Penny Lane (Kate Hudson in a star-making performance) and Stillwater’s enigmatic lead guitarist (Billy Crudup), who keeps stringing Miller along for an interview. From the handwritten credits (done by Crowe) to the bittersweet finale, Crowe’s comedic valentine is an indelible, heartbreaking romance of music, women, and the privilege of youth. –Doug Thomas
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April 11, 2008
#1
This movie was a total flop at the box office, and I’m not surprised. I thought it was thinly written, with only incidental events making up its thin plot. Every actor and actress in the film was bland as dishwater. It obviously meant a lot to Cameron Crowe, since it was basically his diary put to film, but, outside of himself and his family, this movie should be of little interest to anyone else. And one of the tiresome themes of the film was how ugly people are jealous of good looking people. I mean, who cares? At least who cares in the way it’s presented here. And I did find the actor “playing” Cameron Crowe to be awful to listen to. He had the most grating goose-honk-like voice. And Kate Hudson wasn’t much to look at, nor gave a very effective performance, I thought. Cameron Crowe’s movies have always suffered from being too in love with incidental moments. But his best films have major and effective moments to keep your interest up. But ALMOST FAMOUS seemed to be made up of one incidental moment strung to another, making for a long dull and anemic movie. I was looking foward to this movie, since I’m a fan of classic rock. But that was the only good thing about the movie: the classic Led Zeppelin songs that played on the soundtrack now and again. I would have enjoyed this movie more if I had watched it with my eyes closed. This movie deserved to die at the box office.
April 11, 2008
#2
I bought this movie with the expectation it would be good to have in my D.V.D collection.I am leaving right now to trade it in at a video store and hope to get at least 7 dollars towards the purchase of something worthwhile like “Bio-Dome” with Pauly Shore.This movie is not interesting at all,the plot is boring,the characters are dull although the ending was good because I knew it was over….
April 11, 2008
#3
What a bloated bore this movie was – no drama, about 8 million annoying close-ups of Kate Hudson as if to say to us “Look! Isn’t she radiant? Isn’t she a superstar?” while she offers up such amazingly brilliant lines as “We…are not groupies. We are band-aids.” Wow, I am deeply moved. And that part on the bus where they all sing along? Can a filmmaker be any more manipulative? Cameron Crowe is like a little puppy dog that pants at your feet “Do you like me? Huh? Do ya?”. No doubt his experiences on the road could have made for some interesting story-telling. Jerry Maguire was a better film by trusting the material and the actors and telling the story first and foremost. But Almost Famous does what it shouldn’t do: It tries to be moving first and foremost. Cameron Crowe should be forced to sit down in a dark screening room and study Boogie Nights and Magnolia, since that’s obviously the type of movie he’s trying to make, and with this effort, failing miserably. There’s not one good thing about this movie.
April 11, 2008
#4
this movie was terrible, not one of the best movies i saw. it stunk. it’s not worth the time.
April 12, 2008
#5
writer on the road with typical big ego’s rock band of the 70′s, stupid groupies/with/or without veneral disease, and assorted hangers on/drug dealers. With all this “glamour” to deal with can a 15 year old boy cope without getting involved with all these “bad” people? It’s amazing how Kate/Goldie Hudson/Hawn “act” exactly alike, it’s almost scary. Notice how equal everything isn’t for the “free wheeling anything goes generation”. These are the people in charge now, who want to ban everything and can’t think up laws fast enough to take our rights away. Scary isn’t it???? You ain’t seen nothin yet!!!!!!! Peace and love generation, ha, more like they want a piece of everything and love being greedy.