Almost Famous: Crowe's Music Film

Almost Famous is a film about music. But unlike other films about music, it’s a movie that explores what music actually MEANS to those who listen to it and love it. Cameron Crowe’s ability to craft little moments with big feeling into solid movies comes through stronger than ever here. With great performances from a well-selected cast, Almost Famous is a delicious little film about the emotional range of rock music.

Based in part on Crowe’s own experiences as the youngest music correspondent ever to write for Rolling Stone Magazine, Almost Famous chronicles the experiences of a young William Miller (Patrick Fugit) with a fictitious early 1970’s rock band named Stillwater. The stage is set for a time when rock was beginning to balloon into something huge and ungainly, where musical and critical integrity was being lost to the money-making machine.

The strength of Almost Famous lies in the music and the performances. The soundtrack gushes with early ‘70s gems from the likes of Elton John, Yes, Led Zeppelin, and other greats. Subtle in their underpinning of the plot, the tracks melt sanguine dreaminess over Crowe’s movie that hits a pang of nostalgia in all of us, regardless of age. Crowe’s previous films, Singles in particular, were characterized by the same fantastic choice of songs. The character performances are wonderfully fitting, featuring two standouts from newcomers Patrick Fugit and Kate Hudson. Fugit’s giddy vulnerability as the fifteen-year-old William on the assignment of his dreams soars in the face of the harder sides of rock stardom and homesickness. Hudson’s brilliant portrayal of a “band aid” devoted to the music, not the sex, is a tight mix of sexiness, grace, and glow. The way she flicks away a tear under a casual smile sticks to the viewer like glue.