Review of Another Cameron Crowe Film

As I promised y'all earlier this week, I'm going to review writer/director Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000, DreamWorks). This is one of my fave rock 'n' roll flicks. And here's why:
First, the cast is superb. The likes of Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Noah Taylor, and Philip Seymour Hoffman really light up the screen. In the film, Fugit plays William Miller, a brilliant but naive teenager in 1973 California who has been sheltered by his overprotective, nonconformist college professor mother (McDormand). (This movie is loosely based on Crowe's real life.) A wannabe rock journalist, William follows the career of Stillwater, a fictitous, mediocre American version of Led Zeppelin, led by Russell Hammond (Crudup) and Jeff Beebe (Lee, whom I love as the eponymous star (title character) of NBC's My Name Is Earl). William ends up being fortunate enough to score a writing gig with Rolling Stone. This gig allows William to tour the country with Stillwater and a bevvy of groupies who prefer to be called "band-aids," led by Penny Lane (Hudson).
Secondly, several scenes and lines are unforgettable. For example, Crudup and Lee's T-shirt fight and Crudup's subsequent acid-laced romp with a bunch of "real Topeka, Kansas, fans" are two of my absolute faves. As for lines, McDormand makes the movie with gems, such as: "An entire generation of Cinderellas, and there's no slipper comin'!" and "Rock stars have kidnapped my son!" The greatest part of the whole movie, however, is the scene in which the whole Band o' Gypsies belts out an impromptu version of Elton John's classic "Tiny Dancer" on their tour bus.
And that leads to my final fave aspect of this film: the soundtrack. Along with hits by Sir Elton, it boasts killer tunes by Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel, The Allman Brothers, The Beach Boys, The Who, Rod "The Mod" Stewart, Skynyrd, and Stevie Wonder, amongst many other artists synonymous with the "Love Generation." More importantly, each song seems to perfectly fit the scene it accompanies.
Okay, now for a little criticism. Yes, there's some things I didn't like about this movie. For one thing, I found Hudson a bit annoying. I think part of the problem is that Penny Lane is rather self-absorbed and static. Personally, I think Deschanel, who plays William's sister, Anita, was better suited for this role. But that's just me being nitpicky, I suppose. Something else that kinda bugged me were the Greeneville, Tennessee, scenes. They were, well, lame. Even Penny's fellow "band-aids (Balk, Bijou Phillips (daughter of Mamas and the Papas founder John), and Paquin)" complain about Greeneville being the "most boring place on Earth." Yeah, those scenes really drag and suck.
Overall, I give this film four out of five stars. Certain areas could use a little improvement, but nothing in this life is ever perfect. Watching this film makes me yearn for a resurgence of some, not all, the values of the era it captures.