Almost Famous, 2000

I like Cameron Crowe. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything..., Jerry Maquire. These are all fantastic movies. But this was a terrible follow-up to Maguire.

Based on the true life escapades of Crowe, I would have preferred watching a half hour documentary on his exploits... not the cliched fictionalization of every rock band in the 70's. The fighting, the jealousy, the women, the drugs, the music... and we didn't even see it through the right persons eyes. Sure, we followed Crowe's character around, exclusively, but we hardly ever got the pure experiences, the innocent experiences through William Miller.

This film was, essentially, a testament to the Crowe family, specifically his mother. Look, I'm all for sentamental statements, but it's definitely not worth viewing more than once, and it's definitely not worth paying $10.00 a pop for, and it's not worth owning. I took nothing from this film except wondering why the Academy thought this script deserved an Oscar.

I did not like Jason Lee, and I have not liked him at all, especially in his Kevin Smith exploits. He was the same person, throughout, and has no range as an actor.

Billy Crudup was ok. His first role, from Sleepers (a terrible film) was pretty decent. I have yet to see him in Without Limits, which is supposed to be incredible. Everything else he's done is not worth mentioning.

I love watching Frances McDormand. She's one of the only saving graces of this film. She plays the concerned mother to a T, but her role does not come off as recycled, like some of the other actors in this film.

Patrick Fugit was fun to watch, as the fifteen year old reporter... but, again, we never saw life, truly the life he was leading, through his own eyes. He was an innocent. Completely and totaly, and we never saw the real him, only brief flashes of him when he was mad or frustrated. Very strange.

Kate Hudson. What can I say about her performance? It was dull. This was her first truly mainstream film, a film that actually got a lot of hype, and her performance could have been better. The same can be said for Anna Paquin (who was recently in X-Men), who didn't really have that much screen time, but when she was on, she didn't have much of a presence.

Jimmy Fallon and Philip Seymour Hoffman were both great, the other two saving graces of this film. They were background artists in this piece, but they held their own, stronger and with more believable characters than the rest of the cast.

I wish I could say more about this film. It was not well produced, that's one thing. There were, including Crowe, six other producers who, probably, just wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

I refuse to talk about the films score because, I hate to say it, a good score does not make a good film. I could care less how many Zepplin tunes you have on your score, it's not going to help a slow plot and mediocre characters.

I usually like to mention DP's. They have one of the most important jobs in the industry. And John Toll is worth mentioning, for his work pre-Famous. His big break was in Legends of the Fall. Prior to that he'd directed some television and two features I've never heard of. After Legends came Braveheart, which he won an Academy Award for, and rightfully so. It was brilliant work. From there he made two other features that were so-so. Jack and The Rainmaker. Both notable films, but nothing incredible. He then went on to The Thin Red Line, which was another incredibly well done piece, and he got another nomination for that one. From there it was Famous, for which he got nothing.

Am I looking forward to Vanilla Sky, Crowe's next project? Maybe. I don't know. It's got a great cast together, along with John Toll doing what he does best. I want to give Crowe the benefit of the doubt... let him get his childhood behind him and do some serious work... so, we shall see.

J.P.

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