# Almost Famous (2000)

### reviewed by
David N. Butterworth

    ALMOST FAMOUS
    A film review by David N. Butterworth
    Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth

    ***1/2 (out of ****)

"Almost Famous," writer/director Cameron Crowe's first film since 1996's hugely-successful "Jerry Maguire," will be on a lot of ten best lists come the end of the year and it will be on mine. Come the beginning of next year it might well have won the Academy AwardŽ for Best Picture into the bargain.

Pretty much everything you've heard about the film is true, since word on the street is that "Almost Famous" is Absolutely Fabulous. It's also everything you'd expect from a Cameron Crowe movie, and more.

First of all, it tells a story. A very good, semi-autobiographical story. "Almost Famous" follows a '70's highschooler (newcomer Patrick Fugit) who bluffs his way into covering a Lynyrd Skynyrd-type rock band for "Rolling Stone" magazine only to learn that truth-in-reporting isn't as easy as it sounds.

Secondly, like "Jerry Maguire" and those other Crowe projects ("Singles," "Say Anything"), the film is very finely cast and excellently acted by all, including Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Magnolia") as an approving editor, Frances McDormand ("Wonder Boys") as a disapproving mother (she only knows three words: don't do drugs), and the less-well known Kate Hudson as the groupie--sorry, "band-aid"--love interest. Let's not forget Fugit though, who's outstanding in the lead, and Billy Crudup and Jason Lee as, respectively, the band's enigmatic lead guitarist and outspoken lead singer. Both impress, especially Crudup, whose star has clearly risen.

Third, this film is extremely well written and directed. Why wouldn't it be? It's a Cameron Crowe movie. They always say the best writers write from experience and "Almost Famous" is a composite of many of Crowe's true-life memories--at 16 he covered the Allman Brothers for "Rolling Stone"--and the film rings true as a result. A good story, fine acting, and great writing. Sounds like enough. But "Almost Famous" goes beyond that by being warm, genuinely touching, and very funny.

It's also scarily accurate and subtle beyond measure: Crowe excels at the delicate imbalance, the casual observation, the nuance. There are scenes--many, many scenes--that just feel Right, be it in tone, in length, in look. The director knows when to use dialogue (well), and when to have Fugit's William Miller simply observe (better). For a film about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Crowe keeps the emphasis on the music. Stillwater, the band Miller is following, is also a composite, an amalgam of several '70's rock bands--Skynyrd, Zeppelin, the Allmans, Bad Company. Crowe's trump card in filming the band on stage, however, is never to give away too much. All we hear are snippets of songs, snatches of guitar solos from Russell Hammond (Crudup) and convincing posturing from Jeff Bebe (Lee). Wisely, we are never given time to critique the music itself. But it's there, in the forefront and in the background, just like the songs Crowe uses on the soundtrack. Not just throwaway '70's hits but well-chosen numbers which skillfully augment the narrative.

The film never flags for a moment, even during sequences you think you've seen before (the everyone-sings-along-to-a-song-on-the-radio scene, for example). Here Crowe manages to make his version (in which a busload of band members and their entourage harmonize to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer") appear unique. In the trailer it looks corny; in context it hits a nerve.

It's easy to get caught up in the buzz, but it's just as easy not to want to succumb to the hype. If you're smart you'll see "Almost Famous" and then you'll want to see it again. In fact, coming out of the theater it will almost feel like a requirement.

    --
    David N. Butterworth
    dnb@dca.net

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