Almost Famous” (Directed by Cameron Crowe, 2000)
Patrick Fugit plays the young and quiet William Miller, crafted into a follower of his mother Elaine (Frances McDormand). McDormand plays the concerned mother whom we see push away her oldest child, Anita (Zoey Deschanel) to the breaking point. She “flies the nest” to become a flight stewardess and never looks back. While leaving home she leaves her brother with choice words, “One day you'll be cool. Look under your bed, it'll set you free.” The deer eyed William runs upstairs to find his future passion awaiting him, a stack of rock records.
Time passes and music has become a main staple in Miller’s life, following underground fanzines and improving his music collection. Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in a quirky first meeting becomes Miller’s mentor. He is immediately weary of him and quickly analyzes his motives and judges his surface. This paints Bangs as slightly chaotic person which renders spot-on to his real life translation. Miller begins writing reviews for Bangs and has his first task of covering a Black Sabbath Concert. In an overly naïve gesture, Miller attempts to get backstage to interview the band, falls short when he tells the door guy he writes for a magazine. He meets Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) outside the venue and immediately is enamored by her presence. He follows the opening band Stillwater in by gussying up to the band members and finds himself having the night of his life.
One day Miller receives a phone call from Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen), an editor at Rolling Stone Magazine whom saw his work at smaller level magazine. Miller immediately accepts and offers to cover Stillwater. His mother and Lester attempt to talk him out of it but the young Miller knows nothing else could catapult him to this level of success so quickly. He finally leaves town and joins the band and Penny Lane and friends to tour the states. He finds that the band is in total disarray. Sex and drug problems run rampant and his quiet disbelief is evidenced on his face.
The true words that can shape any critic come with a phone call to Bangs, “My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.” Although you never see the thought process of Miller, you can see an underlying fear of letting his pals in Stillwater down. It brings you back to your teenage years just trying to fit in, but at a point you become your own person, and throw all the fakeness away. Miller paints the picture as it is for Rolling Stone, and the story get panned as the group denies every part of their antics on the road.
“Almost Famous” is a film about self exploration and finding your voice, a coming of age story with your mom in the background screaming for you to stay young. The film is made of the small moments that make you laugh hard and reminisce about the days you were lost as a teenager.
