Almost Famous (2000)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Cameron Crowe

Writer (WGA):

Cameron Crowe (written by)

Release Date:

13 September 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don't fall for it.

Plot:

A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour.

Plot Keywords:

Tour | Rolling Stone Magazine | Coming Of Age | High School | Rock Band

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 44 wins & 76 nominations

Cast

Billy Crudup	...	Russell Hammond
Frances McDormand	...	Elaine Miller
Kate Hudson	...	Penny Lane
Jason Lee	...	Jeff Bebe
Patrick Fugit	...	William Miller
Zooey Deschanel	...	Anita Miller
Michael Angarano	...	Young William
Anna Paquin	...	Polexia Aphrodisia
Fairuza Balk	...	Sapphire
Noah Taylor	...	Dick Roswell
John Fedevich	...	Ed Vallencourt
Mark Kozelek	...	Larry Fellows
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Lester Bangs
Liz Stauber	...	Leslie
Jimmy Fallon	...	Dennis Hope

Also Known As:

Something Real (USA) (working title)
Stillwater (USA) (working title)
The Uncool (USA) (working title)
Untitled Cameron Crowe Project (USA) (working title)
Untitled: Almost Famous the Bootleg Cut (USA) (director's cut (DVD title))

MPAA:

Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

122 min | USA:162 min (director's cut) | Croatia:152 min (DVD extended cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Italy:T | Ireland:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Norway:15 (video rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA (original rating) | Australia:M (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:14A | Canada:G (Québec) | Chile:14 | Denmark:7 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #37614) | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Singapore:R(A) (censored version) (original rating) | Singapore:M18 (cut) (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

According to Cameron Crowe, he had sent the script around town to see if he could get anyone to respond to it, including Dreamworks Studio where one of its principal founders is director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had read Crowe's 172-page script over the weekend and called Crowe on Monday saying, "Direct every word". Crowe has stated that he did film almost all of the script.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the final concert, as the band walks onto the stage, several modern intelligent lights (MAC600s) are visible. The lights were first released in 1997. In other scenes, the instruments lighting the band are halogen and metal halide lamps, which also didn't exist in the 1970s.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Elaine Miller: I can't believe you wanna be Atticus Finch. Oh, that makes me feel so good.
Young William: I like him.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cazuza - O Tempo Não Pára (2004)

Soundtrack:

That's the Way

Heart-wrenching, honest, clever; everything I like in a film

I've seen a few coming-of-age films, and a few prodigy-cum-genius type films, and of course more than my share of romantic comedy stuff. This film skirts between the lines of all those possibilities and somehow manages to find its way to the viewer intact, deftly and with a whole lot of old-fashioned charisma.

The acting was honest, true to how people behave without getting schmaltzy or over-dramatic. Cameron Crowe gets these actors to all project a belief in themselves and bring that across in a way that we care about what happens to them. I particularly liked the rendition of William Miller by Patrick Fugit, who steals the show as the precocious rock-n-roll journalist. He evokes visions of a young Matthew Broderick or a wide-eyed Michael J. Fox without ever getting corraled into being the "cute but troubled young kid".

Frances McDormand is amazing and well-cast as Elaine the Mom, someone so wrapped up in creating a safe, healthy environment she drives both her children far away from home.

Billy Crudup & Kate Hudson create the tension filled romance that drives the story along; both did a great job & were adroitly evocative of those fast times in the rock & roll fantasyland of the 70's. Billy, as Russell Hammond, teeters on the edge of fame, not wanting to leave his long-suffering bandmates behind but being courted as the band's star by the record company, is palpably torn. He carries William through the whirlwind of emotions and music along with him, showing him a world that is desperate and lonely, even with the whole world seemingly vying for his attention. His casting is also very clever, seeing as how Billy Crudup also sits on the brink of his own stardom & acclaim in real life.

Lester Bangs is William's 'guru', played to perfection by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. A walking oxymoron, he exudes a callous arrogance and at the same time expresses genuine affection for the up-and-comer, sometimes giving William the exact advice he needs to get him through the toughest moments as a rock critic & dealing with the love/hate relationships they seem to engender with everyone in their world of music.

I can't say enough about the awesome casting job, as well as the very detailed set design, costuming & realism to the times. Period pieces are usually difficult to do well; Mr. Crowe did this one genuine and good.

A truly great film, one that I'd heartily recommend to all but the most jaded rock critics.