Almost Famous

Mariela Quintuna
Reviewing the Arts
10/28/10
Movie Review

Almost Famous (Directed by: Cameron Crowe)

The film “Almost Famous” the autobiography of Cameron Crowe as how he came to be a rock writer in his early career as a teenage music journalist. Mr. Crowe devotes his time to this film to show the love he has for rock ‘n’ roll. In the film we follow the adventures of William Miller (Patrick Fugit) a 15 year-old teen from San Diego whose fairy tale of begins to be a nerdy schoolboy and then arises to be a reporter for the Rolling Stones which is how Mr. Crowe’s career started.
William Miller is seduced by the rock n’ roll band members of Stillwater as he travels on the road with them. This movie was very funny and filled with great music. In the beginning of the movie, Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) plays the role of William’s mother who is overprotective and didn’t approve that his son and daughter Anita (Zooey Deschanel) to listen or think about rock n’ roll music, have sex, and do drugs. She left her brother William all her rock n’ roll records. It was then when William Miller was introduced to the world of rock music in the 1970s.
William miller was a young journalist and it was hard for his mother to let him go. But young William Miller, much as he tries to avoid the craziness that surrounds him, he is, however, too responsible to permit himself a full swallow. (''Don't take drugs!'' his mother shouts into the phone as he has a hard time to hear her through the commotion of hotel lobbies and dressing rooms. As far as we know, he obeys her.)
This movie is great because it shows how life back in the rock ‘n’ roll years. It showed how much influence Mr. Crowe got from it. This is not like any other ordinary film that is about being a rock star, but the truth about Rock ‘n’ Roll and how much love there is for the music.
William Miller meets his idol Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) becomes somewhat like a mentor to William because he inspired him to be a rock writer and William called all the time to ask for advice when the editor of Rolling Stones wanted to know how the story was going when there were times that William doesn’t get a chance to write because he was experiencing himself the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. He was being around all these groupies and the band members always liked to party. Throughout the road trip, William Miller tries to get a one-on-one interview with the bands lead singer Jason Lee (Jeff Bebe).
The movie had all these scenes about drugs and sex, when arriving in the hotel all the groupies would get promiscuous and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) hooks up with the lead singer. It showed that in the life as a rock and roll artist, there could be drugs, such as the scene at almost the very end, when the band and William are at New York; William tries to find Penny Lane when she ran off because she saw Jason Lee with his girlfriend. When William arrived to her suite, he found her drinking and she then finally fainted due to her drinking pills and mixed it with alcohol.
This is a great work by Cameron Crowe and is an overpowering movie that makes you want to listen to that kind of music and be cool.