Almost Famous (2000)

Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup

*****

Almost Famous has always been one of my favorite movies but its also a movie that as time goes by I'm convinced is going to get worse with each viewing. This is mostly because of the fact that other Cameron Crowe films have fallen victim to just that but it also has something to do with the way the film is crafted... its cheesy.

All that having been said, this is still, one of my favorite movies of all time! Its a fantastic coming of age piece about a mid-level kid struggling with his own limitations in the harsh face of rock stars. William Miller (Fugit, while hardly turning in a good performance, works perfectly in the role and I can't imagine anyone else in it) follows and reports on the fictional band Stillwater on their tour across the country all on Rolling Stone Magazine's buck despite the fact that they've never met this journalist. Miller is a fifteen year old who until he was eleven, was under the impression that he was a year older thanks to his overbearing mother Elaine (Frances McDormand in a fantastic performance). His true passion for music sends him on this life-changing journey on which he meets people that shape his life.

The first ten-fifteen minutes of this movie is so obnoxious and contrived that I wanted to punch it in the face. I can't imagine reason good enough to warrant a mother convincing her son that he's a year older than he is. This is the same mother that forces her children to celebrate Christmas in September when it won't be commercialized. Did that already happen? Because Santa Claus is on the street in one of the first shots in the movie. These seem like little issues, but compiled into the first part of this movie, they really make for a confusing and pointless start. We would have been just as satisfied seeing William's sister leave home to the tune of Simon and Garfunkle because he mother won't let her listen to that music.

As soon as young William turns fifteen and Fugit enters the film, alongside Billy Crudup, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Lee and Kate Hudson in perhaps all of their career's best performances, this film transforms into perfection in so many ways. Nothing is unwarranted and even aspects that aren't necessarily believable in the real world work well. Every character is molded into someone you care about but at the same time feel frustrated with over the decisions they make. That is how involved I get in this film.

Yes, I've seen this movie many times before but upon this viewing, a first has occured. My review of Almost Famous becomes the first movie to sit pretty on this blog with a five-star rating.