"Almost Famous" (Directed by Cameron Crowe, 2000)
"Almost Famous" is the coming-of-age story of 15 year old William. A kid growing up in suburbia California during the 70's, at a time when rock'n roll was transforming into a product of the industry and Rolling Stone was cementing its place in the world of pop culture manufacturing as the main purveyor of rock music advertising. William, played by Patrick Fugit, is a fictional representation of Crowe, who was a real life teenage reporter for Rolling Stone. While, the film is based on Crowe's real life experiences in the world of rock 'n roll, the story is by no means faithfully autobiographical. Instead, Crowe takes liberties with the story successfully blending in real life events with fantasy. What results, is a story that captures the vibe of a decade lived through the music, without being bogged down by inconsequential facts.
Contributing to the success of the film of course, is the cast ensemble. Each actor was expertly cast to embody their character, and in general give such nuanced performances that for brief moments you suspect that they might be playing a hyperrealistic version of themselves. Kate Hudson and Fairuza Balk shine as the infectiously vivacious and carefree "Penny Lane" and the smart, no-non-sense "Sapphire," respectively. Playing self-righteous groupies, or "Band Aides" as they call themselves, they liven up the screen each time they make an appearance. Phillip Seymour Hoffman also brightens up the film with his rambunctious interpretation of the legendary "Lester Bangs." Hoffman's commitment to stay true to the Lester Bangs persona is most obviously felt in the scene where he's back in the San Francisco radio station. As the host speaks, he wildly paces around looking at the music records and passionately pointing out the good from the bad. Finally, he abruptly takes the spinning record, tosses it and replaces it with some real rock 'n roll, more appropriate for his wild dancing moves. Although he appears sparingly he steals every scene his in, even outshining Fugit. Of course, the less experienced Fugit can't yet rival Hoffman's expertise but although he falters in scenes that require more emotional stretch, he is still able to hold his own playing a credibly earnest and precocious, but also incredibly naive kid. Although William goes through an extraordinary adventure, and despite living with an eccentric family, he is a very ordinary kid who fantasizes about living the rock star life. Fugit's character injects the necessary dose of reality to the film to keep it from becoming a parody of its self.
Crowe, for the most part was able to find the right balance of fact and fiction however, it seems that he stumbled with the ending. While he gave the audience what he taught the audience was looking for, a happy ending, this was probably not the most effective way of ending such a fantastic story. Yes, "Penny" realized her dream of going to Morocco, "Stillwater," (the film's fictional rising rock band), made it big without loosing its integrity, and William got his Rolling Stone story published but, this was the expected ending. Wouldn't it have been more satisfying if Crowe kept it real and instead of having a rosy ending "Penny" got tossed and forgotten, "Stillwater" became nothing more than a one-hit wonder, and William's story went unpublished? Or if it went on fantasy overdrive and "Penny" became a rock star wife, "Stillwater" became the new Rolling Stones and William took Jann Wenner's job? It seems that Crowe got stuck and scared so he chose the easy way out. It's a shame, because such an excellent movie deserved an excellent ending.
