Almost Famous (2000)

March 21, 2023 6:30 PM

A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
posted by Sukey Says (16 comments total)

I just watched this after listening to Billy Crudup on Fresh Air. The interview is worth listening to and he speaks at length about preparing for the concert scenes in particular. I haven’t see the movie since it first came out. Frances McDormand is hilarious as the mother. Most of it stands up pretty well, and because it’s set in the 1970s it doesn’t feel as old as it is. One thing that did stand out as not aged well is how lightly the consent and underage sex issues are handled. I don’t think the band aids would be portrayed as teenagers if the firm were made today, even if they were true to the times.
posted by Sukey Says at 6:47 PM on March 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am a golden god!
posted by oldnumberseven at 6:57 PM on March 21, 2023 [7 favorites]

One thing that did stand out as not aged well is how lightly the consent and underage sex issues are handled. I don’t think the band aids would be portrayed as teenagers if the firm were made today, even if they were true to the times.

Which I think would be a big mistake (which is not to say it wouldn't be done). Making the band aids young women rather than teen aged girls takes away both the parallel issue of both Penny Lane and William having to realize they are not as adult as they think they are and also downplays the total depravity the girls were treated with in reality. The more I learn about how the Rolling Stones etc viewed their female fanbase as interchangeable sex trade, the more amazed I am that they got away with it so easily, even if it was all supposedly consensual---much like it still is today in some circles, I hear.

This movie is a lot of fun but presents the era too innocently, not quite a whitewash if you know how to interpret it but definitely close.
posted by beaning at 8:09 PM on March 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

It's Cameron Crowe writing and directing more or less biographically, so sanitizing his memories in service of the movie might do double-duty in protecting some real-life people. Just spitballin'. PSH's Lester Bangs could have probably been punched up a bit more, but maybe that would just look out of place. Better just to mask it where he smokes a LOT of cigarettes.

I did watch this relatively recently, in the last year or two, and I liked it more than I did the one time I had seen it before. I imagine it has about as much to do with real-life backstage rock and roll life as Thrashin' does about skateboarding. It's a hazard of representation in the mainstream.
posted by rhizome at 8:53 PM on March 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is one of those movies I will watch whenever I come across it.

Some really good performances not only by the stars but also the side characters. Some memorable set pieces (how great is that Tiny Dancer scene?) and really just the overall vibe,
It feels natural.
posted by madajb at 9:46 PM on March 21, 2023 [6 favorites]

Also, that poster design is iconic.

Instantly recognizable at a glance.
posted by madajb at 9:48 PM on March 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Wait, I never said I'm a golden god."
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

I never know when I watch this movie, if we're supposed to agree with the premise that Russell Hammond is too good for Stillwater, or if it's meant to be his own self of self-aggrandizement. From what I remember, the movie seems to play it straight that he is that much better, but then his performances aren't so much out of step with the rest of the band. Maybe we're supposed to take it as being told not shown the difference? It's a small thing all told, but I do wonder.
posted by Carillon at 9:46 AM on March 22, 2023

I've seen this movie a bunch of times for some reason. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites, but it's one of those that grabs you when you're flipping channels so I guess I saw it a lot in high school. Kate Hudson is just walking charisma in this role, weapons-grade charming.
posted by potrzebie at 7:55 PM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

The extended version of this film is great, because the theatrical cut really made me want to stay in this world longer and the longer version does that; even if it loses its shape, it is such a beautifully drawn world with such rich characters that it's worth it.
posted by crossoverman at 10:48 PM on March 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

That Tiny Dancer scene is indeed the best.
posted by soelo at 2:58 PM on March 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

The deleted scene where they listen silently to the entirety of Stairway to Heaven is kind of amazing.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:11 PM on March 23, 2023

I'm sorry, poignant as it is, I can't do old people boogey-ing, like at all. It does make me wonder how that song hit back in the day, in a way that can't be captured by a random first-time listener reaction YouTube. It used to be a new release!
posted by rhizome at 12:50 PM on March 24, 2023

I love this movie. Also I’m an old person.
posted by billsaysthis at 8:44 PM on March 24, 2023

One thing that did stand out as not aged well is how lightly the consent and underage sex issues are handled. I don’t think the band aids would be portrayed as teenagers if the firm were made today, even if they were true to the times.

I mean.. William, the character who is a surrogate for the audience AND not coincidentally ALSO meant to literally represent the film's writer and director, clearly sees it as harmful and admonishes the people participating in it after it nearly results in the death by suicide of a main character. Maybe you feel it should be underlined more strongly that THIS IS BAD but I don't worry that the film is being overly subtle or ambiguous about this point.
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:38 PM on March 24, 2023

I love the movie and will often put it on as background while I'm cooking dinner or something similar - I have seen it enough times that I can pick it up at any point.. I will agree that it hasn't aged perfectly, but the notes that have grown more sour over time for me are:

• the presence of Mark Kozelek in a bit part (though the Kozelek-cameo-karma is offset by positive cameo-karma from Peter Frampton and Mitch Hedberg)
• having the fourth band member's admission during the plane-crash panic be played for laughs

There are performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Frances McDormand that are memorable even given the rest of their careers, which is saying something, and lots of great little moments that you could easily forget, such as the stunned look on Russell Hammond's face after his first telephone encounter with Elaine ("Your mom kind of freaked me out, man..") or the student in Elaine's class who isn't sure whether "I'm sorry. Rock stars have kidnapped my son.." is going to be on the test but makes a note of it just in case..
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:53 PM on March 24, 2023 [1 favorite]