Almost Famous: One of the Few Perfect Films I've Ever Seen.

 

Oh my god. That's all I can really say about this movie, just oh my god...

Well that's not true. I have a lot I can say about this movie. Almost Famous is an absolute spectacle of a film. Cameron Crowe has delivered one of the closest attempts to complete perfection that a movie has ever come to. Every joke, ever side character, every conversation, every scene, every second, every FRAME of this movie is some of the most outstanding work I've ever seen in cinema. 

Almost Famous is a movie about aspiring Rock Journalist William Miller in the 1970s, who gets an opportunity to write for Rolling Stone Magazine by following the new up and coming band Stillwater on their tour.
The fact that a random kid in San Francisco could meet and get mentored by a renowned journalist like Lester Bangs is one of the many reasons I wish I was born pre-2000s. 

I'd like to start with the fact that this is the most relatable film I have ever watched, and probably will have ever watched. I too, am an aspiring journalist who wants to write about my preferred form of cultural and artistic expression. (William wants to write about Rock for a career, I want to write about movies). I too, will write for hours on end just for the sake of writing. And I too, would be just as helplessly awkward as he was in the situations he was in. 

There is nothing bad for me to say about this film. I'm not kidding when I say it's perfect. So I'm just going to talk about the many, many scenes and aspects of the film that I love. 

I'd like to talk about the band Stillwater first. They are some of the most endearing side characters I've seen in a movie. Their actors can be funny, dramatic, or inspiring whenever they needed to be and they played off of each other so well. I truly thought that they could've been best friends who started a band together and had been working with each other for years. Billy Crudup as Russel Hammond is too good for words to describe. He is so phenomenal and charismatic in this that the first scene I saw him on screen, I could already tell that he was going to be the kindest band member and the one most willing to mentor and work with William. Watching Stillwater's progression in this film is entirely believable, entertaining, and interesting. I love how the character development isn't done from point A to point B, like most movies do. Each member of Stillwater doesn't have character development, they have character journeys. They range from lows to highs and deviate from the average character arc most movies set in place, several times throughout the film. Russel especially does this. He is a flawed individual who means well and tries to be his best self in every situation, but he slips up or makes the wrong choice several times throughout the movie. But every time he does he realizes it, fixes it, and makes it happen less from then on. His character is so complex and interesting, just like many others that I'll get to soon. Stillwater also lets us in on the life of 1970s rockstars. The scenes inside of hotels are loud, chaotic, and a perfect showcase of how unhinged Rockstar parties would have been back then. 

And in conclusion on Stillwater, I dare you to look me in the eye and tell me this guy doesn't look like Ryan Reynolds. Look him up.

Come on. You can't.

Then there's Patrick Fugit, who's performance as William Miller is unspoken brilliance. 

His performance is talked about a good deal, but not to the depth that it should be. Fugit displays William's inner conflict between his nerves and self-doubt against his desire to accomplish his dreams. The display of awkwardness and nervousness he shows in William consistently throughout the entire movie is matched only by how subtle he makes everything. He never tells us how his character is feeling, we figure it out ourselves, and that's a large part of what makes him so believable. Even without Fugit's Oscar nomination-worthy performance, William Miller as a character is really interesting. I love talented actors in films, but I hate it when the writers leave it up to the actors to deliver the scenes. Instead of doing their jobs and giving good dialogue to go with the performances, they slack off and let the actors pick up the extra weight. This is my biggest problem with the otherwise masterpiece Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. Thankfully, the writing soars in this film and even won an Oscar for best original screenplay. So when Patrick Fugit is expressing his character's dreams of becoming a Rock Journalist, or yelling at a band while in a plane, he gets clever, well written dialogue to say. That, mixed with the incredible and nuanced acting of Patrick Fugit, and the sheer relatability to any journalist, is what makes William Miller a complex and amazing character. 

Then of course there's Penny Lane. 

I will be honest, on first watch I found her to be overly egotistical, but then on rewatch...

Yeah she still was. She thinks she's the most important part of Rock and Roll and is an absolute enigma who is the sole reason for Stillwater's success. It's people like that, in over their head, overemphasizing their role or significance in something, and egotistical, that I can't stand. (Other examples of this include Amy Dunne, the villain from Gone Girl, and Hannibal Lecter). I think it's because after spending her life with larger than life, egotistical rock stars, she would start to adopt that same sort of mentality. Aside from the character though, Kate Hudson is amazing in this. She's so clever, charismatic, and outstanding that you are distracted by the character's ego. Also, I only find Penny's ego to be a prominent issue in her character for the first half of the movie. Her character development is truly great in this and it's another thing I don't hear talked about enough. By the second half she's much more down to earth because she saw the humility of William and realized that was the right way to be. And after that she's much more enjoyable to watch (Hudson's performance is good throughout though. I have never seen Pollock, but this performance is my pick for the 2001 Oscars best supporting actress). 

And then there's the romance between Penny and William.

I usually find romance in movies not centered around it to be stale and a tired trope that doesn't need to happen. But this one just works so well. The bar was really low for things like these. But I genuinely cared. I'm shocked. It was so elusive, I had no idea which way it would go or if it would even happen at any turn. And scenes where it progressed were actually really sweet. The reason this works so well is because every aspect of this movie is cranked up to 10. The actors, the writing, the storyline, they all combine perfectly into an amazing story and an amazing movie as a whole. 

Not only is Almost Famous a wildly entertaining journey, filled with warm, charismatic, and relatable characters, it's one of the most under-appreciated and perfect films I have ever seen. Cameron Crowe absolutely hit it out of the park and made a complete masterpiece that will stick with me for years and years to come. (I'm going to catch a lot of hate for this, but best picture 2001, Almost Famous over Gladiator. Sorry but I'm not sorry).