| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | ALMOST FAMOUS (2000) |
| Director | Cameron Crowe |
| Writer | Cameron Crowe |
| Lead Actor | Billy Crudup |
| Cast | Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson |
| Genre | Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Music |
| Release Date | September 22, 2000 (United States) |
| Duration | 2h 2m (122 min) |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDB Rating | 7.9/10 |
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ALMOST FAMOUS: Writer director Cameron Crowe, with two fresh, well crafted movies already in his credits, revisits his own coming of age. His early 1970s career started at age 15 as a rock journalist for Rolling Stone.
The semi autobiographical tale describes a long cross country bus and plane tour with a fictional “almost famous” band. Billy (endearingly played by fresh faced newcomer Patrick Fugit) is a naive young fan who observes close up the hedonistic and ego and money driven excesses of the culture. He befriends and has a positive impact on some of the guys and groupies by writing the truth about their lives.
The situation is a dreamlike fantasy for someone who aspires to be a writer and also loves the music. Billy’s challenge is to get close enough to observe but not to lose his integrity. As his famously obsessive rock-critic mentor, Lester Bangs (a standout performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman), advises, “Don’t be friends with rock stars.”
Billy violates the rule, befriending the self centered but likable lead guitarist (Billy Crudup). He also falls for the exploited, quicksilvers Penny (luminous Kate Hudson).
There are few surprises in the band’s juvenile sex and drugs lifestyle, which seems more shabby than glamorous from the enlightened perspective of 30 years later. (It’s sort of like watching a star struck baseball fan discovering the messy off the field, not so heroic exploits of Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.)
Viewers with moral sensitivities who are not so crazy about rock are likely to sympathize with the perspective of Billy’s conflicted, no nonsense mom (superb Frances McDormand), the film’s feisty but imperfect moral center. Trying to be wise, she allows her son the chance of a lifetime (by going on the trip) but then bugs him relentlessly, determined also to save his innocence.
Otherwise, Crowe’s best scene provides something of an eternal perspective. Panicked band members confess their sins in a private plane during a severe thunderstorm.
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