| Almost Famous | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Cameron Crowe |
| Produced by | Cameron Crowe Ian Bryce |
| Written by | Cameron Crowe |
| Starring | Patrick Fugit Billy Crudup Kate Hudson Frances McDormand Jason Lee Bijou Phillips Phillip Seymour Hoffman Fairuza Balk Anna Paquin Noah Taylor Zooey Deschanel |
| Music by | Nancy Wilson |
| Cinematography | John Toll |
| Editing by | Joe Hutshing Saar Klein |
| Studio | Vinyl Films |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks (US) Columbia Pictures (Int'l) |
| Release date(s) | September 15, 2000 (Limited) September 22, 2000 |
| Running time | 122 minutes 164 minutes (Director's cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million[1] |
| Box office | $47,383,689[1] |
Almost Famous is a 2000 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.
Despite failing to break even, the film received positive reviews and received four Oscar nominations, one of which led to an award to Crowe for his screenplay. It was also awarded the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert hailed it the best film of the year. It also won two Golden Globes, for Best Picture and Kate Hudson won Best Supporting Actress.
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In 1973, William Miller is a teenaged aspiring rock journalist. His mother, Elaine, wants him to become a lawyer. Miller writes for underground papers, sharing the love of rock music instilled in him through a gift of albums given by his sister, Anita, before she left home in disgust over Elaine's beliefs.
William has sent rock journalist Lester Bangs copies of his work, and Bangs gives William a $35 assignment to review a Black Sabbath concert. Bangs advises William not to befriend rock stars, and to be "honest and unmerciful" in his reviews. Without credentials, William cannot get into the arena. Outside, he meets a few groupies who call themselves "Band-Aids", led by a young woman named Penny Lane. He also meets the opening band, Stillwater. They bring William backstage after he critiques their work. The guitarist, Russell Hammond, takes a liking to William.
William and Penny go to Hollywood to see Stillwater again. Penny serves as William's chauffeur, but her real aim is to get close to Russell, for whom she has feelings and shares a past relationship. William is called by Ben Fong-Torres, editor of Rolling Stone, who wants William to write a story for the magazine. Ben, who does not realize that he is talking to a teenager, sends William on the road to write about Stillwater.
William goes on tour with Stillwater and the Band-Aids, promising to keep in contact with his worried mother. As a journalist, the band refers to William as "the enemy", but they befriend him anyway, although Russell puts off giving William an interview. Russell receives an electric shock onstage in Phoenix, which infuriates their manager, Dick Roswell, causing them to abandon the show. In Topeka, Kansas, a t-shirt showing Russell in focus with the rest of the band out of focus sparks an argument between lead singer Jeff and Russell. Russell and William leave, going to a teenage house party so Russell can be with people who are "real". Tripping on LSD, Russell climbs onto the roof, screaming "I am a golden god!" and instructing William to write that his last words were "I'm on drugs!" before jumping into the pool. During the tour, William forms a strong bond with Penny and loses his virginity to the other Band-Aids.
A new manager, Dennis, is hired, and it is revealed that Penny must leave the tour before New York City, where Leslie, Russell's wife, will join them. During a poker game, Russell allows Dick to sell the groupies to Humble Pie for $50 and a case of Heineken. When William tells Penny, she acts nonchalant but is devastated. Penny travels to New York, showing up as the band gathers in a restaurant with Leslie. As they celebrate making the cover of Rolling Stone, Dick forces Penny to leave as Leslie grows suspicious. William follows Penny to her hotel room, finding her overdosed on quaaludes. While keeping her awake he confesses he loves her just before doctors arrive. Penny reveals her real name (Lady Goodman) to him, a secret she has told very few. Penny thanks William for saving her before returning home to San Diego.
Stillwater's plane is caught in a thunderstorm and loses altitude. With death apparently imminent, the group confesses their secrets. During a quarrel, Penny is referred to as "that groupie". William defends Penny, reminding the band that they declared they were "in this for the fans", but Penny was their most adoring fan. The plane emerges from the storm unharmed, leaving the band to ponder the changed atmosphere. William continues to San Francisco to finish the story, parting ways with the band. Russell tells him to write whatever he wants. William submits an article, but the Rolling Stone editors dismiss it as a "puff piece". Bangs advises him to be "honest and unmerciful". William rewrites the article, telling the truth. The Rolling Stone editors are eager to publish it until the fact checker reports that Russell has denied everything, making William look like a liar, and the story is dropped. Sitting dejected in the airport, William encounters his sister. Now a stewardess, she offers to take him anywhere; William chooses to return home.
Russell calls Penny for her address so they can talk in person. Russell goes to the address she gave him, but it turns out to be William's house. Russell and William reconcile, and Russell reveals that he called Rolling Stone to tell them William's story was true. Russell finally gives William an interview. The film ends with Stillwater on tour, William sharing a meal with his mother and sister, and Penny buying a ticket to Morocco, a place she had always wanted to visit.
The film is based on Crowe's experiences touring with rock bands Poco, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In a Rolling Stone article, he talks about how he lost his virginity, fell in love, and met his heroes, experiences that are shared by William, the main character in the film.
An actual band named Stillwater released two albums in the late 1970s. The band agreed to let Crowe use the name after they read the script.[2]
Along with the standard DVD version, Crowe compiled an alternate version called Almost Famous: Untitled, which was a compilation of both released footage and his favorite deleted scenes. Running for about 40 minutes longer than the theatrical release, Untitled was subtitled "The Bootleg Cut", with its packaging resembling a cheap seventies bootleg.[3] The DVD also contains a deleted scene that shows William playing Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven (in its entirety) to his mother. The song itself is not included in the film, but the video has a watermark instructing viewers when to start the song.[3]
Almost Famous had its premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival.[4] It was subsequently given a limited release on September 15, 2000 in 131 theaters where it grossed US$2.3 million on its first weekend. It was given a wider release on September 22, 2000 in 1,193 theaters where it grossed US$6.9 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make US$32.5 million in North America and US$14.8 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of US$47,383,689, well below its US$60 million budget.[5]
Almost Famous was very well-received by critics who gave it predominantly positive reviews; it currently holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 90 metascore on Metacritic.[6][7] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and praised it for being "funny and touching in so many different ways".[8] In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "The movie's real pleasures are to be found not in its story but in its profusion of funny, offbeat scenes. It's the kind of picture that invites you to go back and savor your favorite moments like choice album cuts".[9]
Time magazine's Richard Corliss praised the film's screenplay for "giving each character his reasons, making everyone in the emotional debate charming and compelling, creating fictional people who breathe in a story with an organic life".[10] In her review for the L.A. Weekly, Manohla Dargis wrote that "the film shimmers with the irresistible pleasures that define Hollywood at its best - it's polished like glass, funny, knowing and bright, and filled with characters whose lives are invariably sexier and more purposeful than our own".[11] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "Not since A Hard Day's Night has a movie caught the thrumming exuberance of going where the music takes you".[12] In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "Character-driven, it relies on chemistry, camaraderie, a sharp eye for detail and good casting".[13] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, " Every Cameron Crowe film is, in one way or another, about romance, rock & roll, and his romance with rock & roll. This power ballad of a movie, from 2000, also happens to be Crowe's greatest (and most personal) film thanks to the golden gods of Stillwater and their biggest fan, Kate Hudson's incomparable Penny Lane."[14]
Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A-" rating and Owen Gleiberman praised Crowe for depicting the 1970s as "an era that found its purpose in having no purpose. Crowe, staying close to his memories, has gotten it, for perhaps the first time, onto the screen".[15] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan praised Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Lester Bangs: "Superbly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, more and more the most gifted and inspired character actor working in film, what could have been the cliched portrait of an older mentor who speaks the straight truth blossoms into a marvelous personality".[16] However, in his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris felt that "none of the non-musical components on the screen matched the excitement of the music. For whatever reason, too much of the dark side has been left out".[17] Desson Howe, in his review for the Washington Post, found it "very hard to see these long-haired kids as products of the 1970s instead of dressed up actors from the Seattle-Starbucks era. I couldn't help wondering how many of these performers had to buy a CD copy of the song and study it for the first time".[18] Paste Magazine named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000-2009), ranking it at number 3.[19]
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