A free flowing series of vignettes on the road, filtered through the experiences of a teen journalist on a bus with a second-tier rock band. Cameron Crowe gets some laughs and smiles in this sentimentalized, semi-autobiographical tale. Some fine performances -- especially young Fugit and Billy Crudup, who deserves to be a big star.
What prevents this film from achieving greatness (almost greatness?) is that Crowe doesn't seem comfortable making this a more Altmanesque layered story with multiple viewpoints. Thus, when he gets to final couple of reels, he has to stick in some fairly contrived conflicts to bring tension to an otherwise easygoing picture. In particular -- the factchecker coming in and saying the band was denying their quotes. Excuse me -- didn't the kid TAPE his interviews?
What prevents this film from achieving greatness (almost greatness?) is that Crowe doesn't seem comfortable making this a more Altmanesque layered story with multiple viewpoints. Thus, when he gets to final couple of reels, he has to stick in some fairly contrived conflicts to bring tension to an otherwise easygoing picture. In particular -- the factchecker coming in and saying the band was denying their quotes. Excuse me -- didn't the kid TAPE his interviews?