Britt's On

Almost Famous
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup
Costarring: Jason Lee, Kate Hudson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Frances McDormand, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin
Director: Cameron Crowe
Times Watched: About 4 or 5
Genre: Drama
Rotten Tomatoes / Metacritic: 88% / 90

The Road To Ownership: I wanted to buy American Beauty really badly (ironically, the next movie in my roster) and HMV had a twopack sale on - $20 for two movies. Almost Famous, which I knew my parents loved, was sandwiched in with AB.


The Plot: William Miller is perpetually uncool, in part because of his libertarian mom's socialist views, but also because he's crippled by being two years younger than his fellow classmates. When his sister gets fed up with their mom, she hits the road - but leaves William her record collection. Soon he unlocks the the key to coolness - if only internally - through his passion for music, and begins writing articles. A chance run-in with the band Stillwater while attempting to write about Black Sabbath launches his career as Rolling Stone asks him to write an article on the band, which involves him touring with them for awhile. Soon William is thrust into the crazy world of 1970s rock and roll, complete with groupies, drugs, and infighting.


The Good & The Bad: I find I enjoy this movie the more I watch it, but I still hold by my essay that Jerry Maguire is Cameron Crowe's best film. That being said, the hallmarks of what makes CC such a great writer/director/maestro of the cinema is well in play here. To wit:
- Fantastic casting. This is how you use an all-star cast to your advantage. Dress em up and reinvent them. Make them into the characters, not into a parade of celebs. Use character actors and make them special. Conveniently, also make fun of being rich & famous.
- Great soundtrack. Along with Zach Braff, Cameron Crowe should just produce mixtapes for me to make me happy. The soundtrack here is pure classic Americana rock - from Elton John and Simon and Garfunkel to Zeppelin and Bowie. Stillwater's tunes slip in seamlessly, as does Nancy Wilson's always impeccable scoring.
- Amazing vibe. The thing I appreciate MOST about Cameron Crowe films is the fact they don't fall into the classic pattern of beginning/middle/end. There are many downfalls and hardships for the characters, to the point where you almost ask yourself when is it going to end? HOW is it going to end? Happy or sad? Bittersweet?


Crowe's movies are first and foremost about the vibe, and he completely 100% successfully draws you into an authentic-feeling rock and roll scene through the eyes of a naive, uncool, bright-eyed wannabe journalist poser - a voyeur so hapless, yet someone we still feel jealous of compared to the blank-eyed shots of the fans that are farther removed from the action. A good CC film masters the art of vibe, and Almost Famous is perhaps Crowe's best film for it.

There are some problems with the film however. It gets a bit draggy and disorganized in the last third, although watching it this time around, I sort of appreciated that a bit more. If the film is truly meant to be wide-eyed William's story, the film is successful at sweeping you away in the mayhem and magic of rock and roll in the beginning, the good times. The last third of the film, in contrast, feels like a bit of a dragged out hangover, the sparkle lost (as it has been for William). Suddenly the myth is broken down and you feel a little lost as well.


Sometimes the film gets a bit over-exaggerated with its minor characters, but all of Crowe's films do that (Susan Sarandon in 'Elizabethtown' comes to mind). I also get really distracted by the fact that I still don't know to this day how old Penny Lane is supposed to be. Is Kate Hudson - who is perpetually frozen in time, making it harder to determine her age - playing with William? Or is she genuinely tour jailbait? I always felt like the Band Aids were around the 20-year-old mark. Old enough to feel like they created the rules of the road and had been allowed to leave their parents, but young enough to not know any better. I don't know, it always bothers me, because if you're going to cast a kid like Patrick Fugit, your other characters that are supposed to be his age better LOOK it.

I guess my problem with this film is that for as much as it gets right, for the length, I just want MORE. I want more resolution, more detail, more depth, more of everything. The movie just feels fragmented a bit in the end, and after the two hours and long emotional journey, I always feel, as I said, like I just came off a bit of a bender and am recuperating, and not entirely loving the investment I just put into watching the film (or to use my metaphor, getting hammed). Although I will say, this latest go-round provided a few casting Easter eggs. Namely, Rainn Wilson as a decked out Rolling Stone exec!

Best Scene: I kept on trying to figure this out as I watched the movie, and it was really hard. I like the actual acting in the plane scene, but the horrible FX of the whole thing bother me. I enjoy Jason Lee's t-shirt hissy fit but that's cause he's awesome. I like William's first entre into the world of rock & roll, backstage at his first Stillwater concert. I love the house party William and Russell attend. I enjoy pretty much every little bit from Rolling Stone. Gah. I'm going to go with the tee hissy fit. It's just a brilliant piece that lets you see more than a snippet of the loose ends amongst the members.

Worst Scene: The whole Penny/William bathroom/pee scene is just a big no. Same with the devirginizing melee right after.


Best Character: Jason Lee is my fave. He's a great actor, especially when playing the chip-on-his-shoulder frontman / villain (see: The Incredibles). I can't get enough of his self-serving shallowness in this movie, although I also miraculously sympathize with him. It's like Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump!



Worst Character: Maybe it's the horrible hair they give him, or the fact I feel squeamish whenever they talk about his magazine, but I never liked Philip Seymour Hoffman's 'Lester Bangs' in this movie. He plays a good smarmy, holier-than-thou former loser, but given that I can't stand those dudes, he drives me nuts.

Soundtrack of our Lives: As said earlier, great soundtrack from the legendary Cameron Crowe. The music is used as both emotional cues, plot devices, and background filler in perfect harmony.

If You Like This You'll Like: Any Cameron Crowe movie.

FINAL GRADE: 3/5

A few weeks ago I PVR'd Cameron Crowe's classic 90s film Jerry Maguire off of my godsend free movie channel, Encore Avenue HD. And you know what, despite its lengthiness, I enjoyed every second of it. After a quick mental analysis of the Cameron Crowe movies I'm familiar with, I decided Jerry Maguire was possibly his best film ever. Then I decided to document it, here.

Crowe's major career started with directing and writing the beloved 'Say Anything' starring a doe-eyed John Cusack in his prime. However anyone that has seen or talked about that movie knows it makes little sense and is ultimately a sad story. An 80s teen classic to be sure, but aside from the infamous boom box scene, not exactly the stuff iconic films are made of.

After that in the early 90s he moved onto 'Singles', a forgettable (as in, I haven't seen it) rehashing of St. Elmo's Fire with twenty-somethings searching for love in tres hip Seattle. The fact I haven't even heard of this movie probably speaks volumes. So I'll leave it at that.

Following 1996's Jerry Maguire, Crowe stepped up to write, produce, and direct his possibly most beloved film, 'Almost Famous'. Don't get me wrong, this is a great movie with a great cast. It showcases Kate Hudson's best (and unfortunately, one of her earliest) performance to date and features a wonderful ensemble cast from Jason Lee's snotty rocker to Zooey Deschanel's charming big sister take to the always on Frances McDormand in her taut mother role. The main problem I have with this movie is the fact it never really settles on a protagonist. Although you see this world through the lens of inexperienced youth William Miller, you rarely feel attached to him. The main emotional scenes of the movie surround Hudson's Penny Lane and the overall dynamics of Stillwater. It's hard to fall in love with a protagonist that consistently exposes his naivete, making the viewer feel superior over and over again. Plus I feel like the boxes were drawn a bit too finely around each character. Still, a fantastic movie in my collection.

After Jerry and Famous, Cameron Crowe had elevated himself to new heights - his films managed to be commercially successful, viable for awards, and ultimately endearing, nostalgic, almost timeless works of cinematic art.

However his next two films after that - despite being highly touted and buzzed about in advance - failed to grab viewers or awards, tarnishing Crowe's reputation. I actually like both of them but...I can see why you wouldn't.

Vanilla Sky reunited Crowe with Tom Cruise, aka Jerry Maguire, as well as sparked the Cruz/Cruise relationship, and perhaps revealed Cameron Diaz's true possessive nature (that drove Justin away?) in one of *her* best performances to date. I liked this movie for its realism mixed with fantasy - specifically in the 'realistic' parts of the film. The Cruz/Cruise connection was amazingly captured on film, I found Penelope absolutely adorable in this movie despite not being a massive fan of hers, and I believed the romance scenes between them. Again, Diaz's insanity was brilliantly played here. However, the whole film loses its lustre with its ending, which I won't ruin for you - it plays on science fiction a fair bit which is such a juxtaposition with the rest of the slightly eccentric and mysterious yet charming and passionate tone of the rest of the film.

Following that we have Elizabethtown, better known as an excellent showcase for the amazing soundtracks Crowe put together, but an underwhelming love story between two twenty-somethings getting in touch with their adult sides. Orlando Bloom jumped on this project to shift his reputation as a 'serious' actor, but he never quite fits the role of the lauded shoe designing wunderkid with his tail between his legs as he returns home for his father's funeral. Kirsten Dunst suits the role of the perky (almost annoyingly so) stewardess much better than her male counterpart, but unlike Crowe's earlier films, he fails to really build out the supporting cast, choosing instead to focus on Bloom who as mentioned, doesn't really fit. Dunst's character of Claire and Bloom's entire extended family are underused or packaged into extremely tight packages. I also recall reading a scathing review that picked up on the fact Susan Sarandon (as Bloom's mom) goes through a ridiculous number of mid-life crises' in the film's short time period.

Since then, all has remained on the Cameron Crowe front - Elizabethtown was released in 2005 (and yes, I have it on DVD and both soundtracks...I could watch the film to see the soundtrack play out alone) and it appears Crowe is in pre-production for a new film with Reese Witherspoon and Ben Stiller for release in 2010.

Now...here are my 7 reasons why Jerry Maguire is the best Crowe film of all time (and likely will be) in no particular order.

#1) Iconography - I watched 'The Godfather' for the first time the other day, and I was amazed at just how many famous phrases come from that film. The same is very true of Jerry Maguire. From 'show me the moneyyy' to 'you complete me' to 'you had me at hello' to 'help me, help you' the film offers no end of now cliched expressions that are completely embedded in our language. It takes a very well-written and received film to reach the level of integration JM has.

#2) Renee Zwelleger - this movie launched her career, without a doubt. Mostly because she is adorable, does a perfect job of playing the wide-eyed, naive single mom still hoping for something more, and she just *looks* better. Her eyes aren't as squinty, her voice isn't as gravelly, her body isn't deathly thin - she just looks lovely, in a way that also screams normalcy next to Kelly Preston's primped and glossy character.

#3) Ensemble Cast Development - every character, and I mean EVERY character in this movie is so amazingly well-rounded. In many ways, this book works like a novel in its characterization - the little details in the set design to their appearance to the lines they say, they all speak volumes about every character. Just looking at one or two examples - Bonnie Hunt's big sister character, Laurel, runs a divorcee club, is blunt with both Jerry and Dorothy about their relationship, has a protective mother bear streak for Dorothy and her son yet no children of her own, and believes in being conservative. Regina King's wife demonstrates loyalty, passion, strength, and tenacity in virtually every scene she's in. Even the most minor of characters - Dorothy's male nanny, Rod's slacker brother, Cush's weak-boned father - are detailed and jump off the screen and stick in your mind long afterwards.

#4) Complications - sure the movie ends on a high note, but the fact is, virtually nothing in this movie comes easily. The big breaks in Jerry's otherwise haphazard life - landing Cush, landing Rod, and marrying Dorothy - all head south at one point or another, and cost Jerry more than a piece of his sanity and soul. Even though the movie implies things are looking up for Jerry, it never actually takes the Hollywood ending route of the 'and suddenly, Jerry got millions of phone calls with new clients to take on'. The movie manages to both condemn and laud many of the themes and characters - including Jerry's flash of inspiration, Dorothy's search for a happily ever after, and Rod's mixture of heart and headiness when it comes to playing sports.

#5) Jerry Maguire - the character of Jerry is one of Tom Cruise's finest acting performances, mostly because he stops being Tom Cruise for five seconds and lets himself be both humiliated and shameless. He is endearing, especially in his realization that the self he's been for so many years maybe isn't so great - highlighted in his engagement party video. He doesn't want to be another sports agent guy, but he also recognizes it's the only way to do business. He is ungrateful, but not stupid enough to realize when he's got something good (or when something is worth letting go, like his fiancee). Like the entire film, Jerry Maguire is a complicated character, one that is easily relatable as we see his flaws in ourselves.

#6) Johnathan Lipnicki - Seriously this kid is freaking adorable in this movie. I don't care if he grew up to be an ugly irrelevant bugger, in the film, he steals every scene he's in. His scenes, although adorable, aren't just played for laughs. They're critical to cementing the tricky situation of shoplifting the pooty that Rod harasses Jerry about. This isn't just playtime with your sister's nephew, it's a child who is simply looking for someone to latch onto that they can rely on.

#7) It Takes Times - Unlike many movies today, this story does not happen overnight. Although the timeline is shady - particularly in terms of the Dorothy / Jerry love story - you get to experience the passage of time in a difficult time in every character's life, particularly via the football season. When things do seem to move rapidly, such as Dorothy's marriage to Jerry, the movie makes a point of showing the failures in this. The ending also acknowledges that it will take time for Jerry to really be successful at his 'new way' of managing sports stars.

There you have it. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I still love this movie. Yes it's long. Yes it's a little emotional. And yes you're more than likely tired of the famous lines being quoted in excess during the 90s. But it's great, and an example of what amazing filmmaking can be.

- Britt's On