By
Oliver White
Arizona Daily Wildcat
New Cameron Crowe film features his fictional alterego
Grade: A
When just a simple human with a recollection of his post-adolescent childhood can create such an emotionally trying masterpiece, its greatness must be taken piece by piece.
The film in question is "Jerry Maguire" writer-director Cameron Crowe's latest work, "Almost Famous," which mirrors the part of his life he spent as a music reporter for Rolling Stone.
This film allows its actors to venture into the realm of weird, lackadaisical, careless wanderers, the lot of them either composing the 1970s band Stillwater or the roadies that follow them around the country in an untrustworthy tour bus resembling a 10,000-pound bullet.
Shining brighter than the rest of the cast are William Miller (Patrick Fugit) and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), whose innocent yet unseen love for each other gives the movie a surprisingly strong hold on the audience. The film carries on to include very comedic, raw, heartbreaking, sexually charged and just really funny scenes.
Hudson - the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn - plays the part of Penny, a 16-year-old beauty traveling with Stillwater and especially Russel Hammond (Billy Crudup), the lead guitarist and stud of the band. Hudson's role becomes increasingly obvious as the movie pushes forward. At first, she appears to be a groupie or "band-aide," in her words. But as the slender queen vomits a bunch of quailudes in a Boston hotel, it becomes very clear that she serves as a muse- for everyone, including Miller, who falls hopelessly in love with her even though she nearly completes the Kama Sutra with Hammond.
Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee), the charismatic lead singer of Stillwater, never fails to crack up the audience with the same sarcastic, mouthy element seen in such indie-film classics as "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy." Lee also rises to new levels as he couples his comedic role with more serious undertones.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's role is also integral as the wild, nerdy editor-in-chief of Creem, Lester Bangs, who first hires Miller to interview Black Sabbath. Hoffman serves importantly as a friend, confidant and mentor to the young, scared Miller. The comic relief provided by Hoffman and Lee only expand on the film's numerous gifts.
"Almost Famous" could not have come at a better time. After a string of substandard film releases, Crowe's "Almost Famous" soothes the wound like a medicine man from a good dream. His movie was well made, incredibly satisfying - both intellectually and visually - and gave almost no opportunity for anyone to be completely overwhelmed by a beautiful piece such as this.
