"Almost Famous" is a simple movie. It's not about explosions or flashy action scenes. It's not concerned with how "hip" it is and it doesn't exist to capitalize on any given trend. This movie is about real people, and that's what makes it so good.
The story is an old one, about a young boy who goes on a journey and learns about himself and about life. It's almost a modern day "Huckleberry Finn," but this movie does not rely on cliches.
The characters are all three dimensional people that do not exist solely to move the plot along, nor are they given long speeches to explain the "point" of the movie. The director Cameron Crowe lets the movie speak for itself. All the performances are great. We can see why William loves Penny, yet we can see how Penny is destroying herself. Kate Hudson does a great job with a great character who brings to mind a combination of Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and her own mother, Goldie Hawn. Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, and Billy Crudup are all great as well, but Hudson is the real find here. This is the fourth movie that Crowe has directed. He hasn't made a bad one yet, but "Almost Famous" is his best. Crowe always makes the characters real and believable and pays attention to the details lurking around edges of the movie. The stories he writes never follow the conventional formula. He always gets great performances from his actors, just look at John Cusack in "Say Anything" and Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire." As long as he keeps making movies, I will go to see them.
The story is an old one, about a young boy who goes on a journey and learns about himself and about life. It's almost a modern day "Huckleberry Finn," but this movie does not rely on cliches.
The characters are all three dimensional people that do not exist solely to move the plot along, nor are they given long speeches to explain the "point" of the movie. The director Cameron Crowe lets the movie speak for itself. All the performances are great. We can see why William loves Penny, yet we can see how Penny is destroying herself. Kate Hudson does a great job with a great character who brings to mind a combination of Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and her own mother, Goldie Hawn. Patrick Fugit, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, and Billy Crudup are all great as well, but Hudson is the real find here. This is the fourth movie that Crowe has directed. He hasn't made a bad one yet, but "Almost Famous" is his best. Crowe always makes the characters real and believable and pays attention to the details lurking around edges of the movie. The stories he writes never follow the conventional formula. He always gets great performances from his actors, just look at John Cusack in "Say Anything" and Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire." As long as he keeps making movies, I will go to see them.