MOVIES Jonathan Richards
ON THE COVER OF THE ROLLING STONE
ALMOST FAMOUS
Written and Directed by Cameron Crowe
With Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson
UA North R 125 min.
If you remember '70s rock, you'll swear you remember the band Stillwater and its Rolling Stone cover. You may even have their album somewhere in your stack of yellowing, tape-patched LP jackets. That's how real Cameron Crowe ("Jerry Maguire") makes the universe of his semi-autobiographical movie, "Almost Famous", with its improbable story of a 15-year-old rock critic touring with the band and writing a cover story for the 'zine of record of the record scene.
Improbable, but true. Crowe was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone, he did tour with bands like Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers, and the stories and situations with which he packs this tender, romantic, and exhilarating love letter to a bygone era are drawn from life.
William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is young, younger even than he knows: his mother (Frances McDormand) has lied to him about his age as she pushes him forward in school. An English professor of fierce intelligence and discipline, she won't even let rock records in the house ("Look," she says, confiscating a Simon & Garfunkel album from his older sister and pointing to their eyes on the cover. "Drugs!") But when his sister (Zooey Deschanel) runs away to become a stewardess, she leaves him her contraband cache of albums. Leafing through the forbidden jackets, he discovers a minefield of exotic temptation. He's sucked through the looking glass into the siren world of rock.
His break comes when he meets the (real life) legendary rock critic Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who fills his ear with sage advice ("Don't become close to them. These people are not your friends. Friendship is the booze they feed you") and hires him to write a concert review. There he meets the lovely Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a groupie who rejects that nomenclature ("We're Band Aides. We inspire the music.") He also meets Stillwater, with its charismatic guitarist (Billy Crudup) and lead singer (Jason Lee), and makes enough of an impression that they invite him to tag along to L.A.
The story line of "Almost Famous" is neither complex or important. It's a coming-of-age story, a loss-of-innocence story, an end-of-an-era story ("You're coming along at a dangerous time for rock 'n roll," Bangs tells William. "The war's over and they [commercialism] have won.") But Crowe's unerring feel for the personalities and the moments make this movie soar. There is a scene on the bus of Stillwater's "Almost Famous" tour which begins with the group sullenly isolated from each other following an ego-fueled dust-up. Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" is playing, and gradually, almost reluctantly, they all begin tapping, humming, and finally singing joyfully along. It's a paean to the healing power of music.
There are a few minor potholes. A confessional scene in a plane in a storm serves its purpose but feels a bit forced, ditto a scene in Rolling Stone's office trashing William's story. A few lines smack of "I couldn't resist" - a reference to Mick Jagger at 50, and a ponderous coy line about the early days of faxing. But most of it is perfect pitch. One of the best moments has McDormand on the phone with Crudup, admonishing him to take good care of her baby, and wiping the rock star smirk off his face.
Fugit's debut balances innocence and savvy, and grows in maturity across the film's arc. Hudson is luminous as the not quite invulnerable groupie, and she captures a couple of the film's most indelible scenes. In a performance that should catapult him out of the "If we can't get Brad Pitt" category, Crudup radiates sex appeal, self-confidence, and self-doubt, and Jason Lee does a deft mix of rock star charisma and neurosis. All the cast is outstanding, from the overqualified Band-Aides (Anna Paquin and Fairuza Balk) to the look-alikes playing Rolling Stone editors Ben Fong-Torres and Jann Wenner. Best of all are the flexibly puritanical McDormand and the hiply uncool Hoffman in terrific supporting roles that merit Oscar recognition.
"Almost Famous" is about what's real and what isn't, about love and friendship and hero-worship, about the loneliness common to cool and uncool, about the transitoriness of style and the staying power of intelligence. Cameron Crowe combines them all in a movie that really rocks.
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