‘Good-looking people don’t have any spine. Their art never lasts…’
It’s impossible to predict what will connect with audiences. Sometimes something destined to be a hit falls by the wayside and something with seemingly no potential for greatness endures. Almost Famous flopped at the box office upon release, but by the time it was earning four Academy Award nominations (winning one for writer-director Cameron Crowe’s screenplay), it had found its audience. As a film studies teacher with a fresh cohort of eager film enthusiasts every September, I can confirm that the film continues to find its audience over a quarter of a century later…
William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a stand-in for Crowe himself, finds himself plucked from teenage obscurity and thrown in at the deep end of the rock ‘n’ roll debauchery as a freelance journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973. Something that really happened to the teenage Crowe. Absolute madness. While on the road, he hooks up with upcoming rock band Stillwater (an amalgamation of The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles among others) and meets band-aid (NOT groupie) Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). As he’s still at school, William is tasked with calling his loving but overbearing mother (Frances McDormand) twice a day whilst still trying to fulfil his journalistic responsibilities. Luckily, he has legendary music journalist Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to call on for advice. Stillwater is made up of guitarist and songwriter Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and… two other guys. The supporting cast features pre-fame cameos from Marc Maron, Jay Baruchel, Jimmy Kimmel and Rainn Wilson, as well as small roles for Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk and Zooey Deschanel. Every frame positively buzzes with talent.
I should start by pointing out that I consider this to be far and away the best film about music ever made. This review is going to be a gusher. I’ve seen Almost Famous at least 50 times. When asked to recommend a film someone might not have seen, it’s my go-to answer. It’s no exaggeration to say that the film altered the trajectory of my life forever after first stumbling across it at age 12 in my bedroom at my parents’ house. The film gave a voice to everything I felt about music at the time, and everything I still feel on those days when I manage to tap into that teenage passion that is so easy to lose if you don’t nurture it and care for it from time to time. All the performances are phenomenal. Hudson and McDormand were both Oscar nominated (in the same category, which unfortunately probably prevented either of them from winning), and both deliver career-best, career-defining performances. McDormand in particular steals every scene in which she appears, breathing life into a character that could so easily have slipped into caricature, and Hudson, assisted by Crowe’s deft script, ensures that the fairly tragic arc of Penny Lane is treated sensitively and with warmth. A film about rock stars having sex with teenage girls shouldn’t work. Somehow, due to a combination of the performances and Crowe’s assured direction, it does.
Elsewhere, Hoffman, the great Hoffman, delivers the kind of performance that makes you think that of all the actors that died young, his passing was perhaps the most tragic. His iteration of Lester Bangs crackles and pops across the screen every time he appears and it’s a testament to Fugit, an unknown actor at the time, that he can (just about) keep up with him. Crudup, a late replacement for Brad Pitt (what a different movie that would have been), is also excellent, imbuing Russell with a vulnerability and a twinkle in his eye that means we can’t help but like him despite all of his selfish rock star excess. Jason Lee is Jason Lee. Charismatic. Funny. Insecure when he needs to be. In a film packed full of great characters, all of the performances elevate each other until you have a cast working together, firing on all cylinders, and ultimately delivering on an autobiographical script that is unafraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. And thank goodness for that. It also features probably the most effective needle drop in the history of cinema. If you know, you know.
I could write for hours about Almost Famous but at some point I’m going to have to continue with my life. Get back to the real world. But know this, Crowe’s masterpiece ain’t going anywhere. While ever teenagers are falling in love with the music blasting through their headphones, this film will endure. Revisiting Almost Famous is like walking around in my own head for a couple of hours, amongst old friends. It’s all happening. Almost Famous? Always a masterpiece. Hold me closer…
