Review: Almost Famous (2000)
TIL: Don't take no for an answer
Almost Famous (2000)
Written and directed by Cameron Crowe
The writer-filmmaker Cameron Crowe, who began as a teenaged rock critic for national music magazines at age 16, and parlayed his familiarity with Hollywood into screenplays and then directing films, came full circle when he wrote and directed a mainline Hollywood movie about that teenager. The real Crowe really did insinuate himself into the rock scene before he was old enough to drive, writing criticism and interviews for Creem and Rolling Stone.
To tell the story for film — a big-budget movie with DREAMWORKS splattered across the titles — Crowe creates a fictional teenaged alter ego, one William Miller, and a fictional band called Sweetwater, a straight-ahead rock band with a tinge of blues sound, because that’s what rock bands sounded like in the years 1966-74, unless they were the Beach Boys or the Beatles. Think a little Led Zeppelin, a little Who, a little J. Giles.
In one graf: young William (played quite decently by an unknown, Patrick Fugit), exposed to the best of 60s rock by his older sister as she flees the house to get out from under their controlling mom, starts writing for regional music publications by age 13 or 14, and gets the attention of Lester Bangs, a legendary rock critic portrayed here by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
With Bangs’ encouragement, he goes to a local concert by Black Sabbath, intending to interview their lead singer, but is turned away at the stage door because he’s not on the list. Fortuitously, the second-billed band, called Sweetwater, pulls up in their tour bus. Because William can name them all and apply a flattering adjective to their playing, they sweep him inside the arena with them and he hangs out with them backstage. This leads to him accompanying them on a multi-week U.S. tour and getting a pitch accepted by Ben Fong Torres at Rolling Stone.
Hey! The same thing happened to me! Well, the failure part:
As a college journalist I was assigned to interview the guitar god John Mayall1 when he came to Austin. I knew nothing about blues-rock and, since it was 1977, preferred Bruce Springsteen on the one hand and The Cars on the other. But I accepted the assignment and dutifully knocked on the stage door of the venue2. Just like in the movie, I was turned away because my name wasn’t on the pass list. Unlike in the movie, I felt relief, because I had no desire to have my imposter sydrome validated by some sneering enormous Brit who was twice my age. I wrote up the experience in a sort of gonzo way, along the way calling the venue a dump and essentially getting my name excised from their list for the remainder of my college journalism career.
Anyway, because this is America, the young writer in the movie becomes a success, gets laid, receives a lot of solid Life Lessons, and goes on to become Cameron Crowe, though the film leaves out that last part. So, not like my life at all. Only about three excruciating minutes of it. Just wait til you hear what happened when I did get backstage to interview a touring musician — some other time.
There’s a lot to enjoy in this movie, which was a flop when it came out but has become iconic in the years since then, not because we treasure Cameron Crowe so much, but because it’s a straight-up wish-fulfillment fantasy of millions of late boomer men who grew up in that era — to somehow become associated with rock and roll despite recognizing they have no musical talent.
Aside from the rollicking fun it contains, the movie is Kate Hudson’s breakthrough film. As one of Sweetwater’s chief groupies (“We’re not groupies! We call ourselves ‘band aides’”), she is a constant presence, at one point appearing to iron the stage clothes of one of the band’s members, which gives the film the chance to play Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” (“seamstress for the band;” one of the best things about the movie is that all of the songs on the soundtrack are from that exact 1973-74 era of pop music). Realizing that they are the same (under-) age, she and William protect one another. It’s sweet to see their friendship develop as something more than just a friendzone.
The actors who play musicians act convincingly like a band — as long as you realize that this is a movie about underage people hanging around the music world, so it depicts only a fraction of the violence, drug use, cruelty, sexism, and exhaustion you would generally find on a music tour in those days, especially the tour of a second-rate band starving to reach the the next level. When the record label sends out a guy to replace their founding manager in the middle of the tour, what would realistically be an event tinged with betrayal and emotional meltdowns is treated about as seriously as you’d replace one of the history teachers at a large city high school. This is why I keep calling it a Hollywood movie. It doesn’t really have any serious things to teach, and it doesn’t care if you notice.
The movie is almost entirely about the rock world as seen through William’s eyes — maybe that’s another reason why it’s more “Midsummer Night’s Dream” than “Macbeth.” Only when it’s two-thirds over does the plot cohere on the issue of whether or not William will get a key interview with the band’s lead singer (Billy Crudup) and thus fill out his color-filled article about the tour. The drama around this serves to supply the climax and denoument.
Good as he was, Patrick Fugit, the actor who plays William — onscreen most of the time, he practically carries the movie — was a one-hit wonder. Cameron Crowe … not quite sure what happened to his career, but his last feature film was 2015’s “Aloha.” Billy Crudup has over 50 credits in film and TV. Kate Hudson — she’s still a star.
John Mayall on Wikipedia
The leading rock venue in Austin at that time — aside from the civic auditorium where the big acts played — was called Armadillo World Headquarters, because hippies. It was razed in 1981.
Great review! One of the best films about what it's like to start a career in journalism.