ALMOST FAMOUS (2000) - ♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Cameron Crowe

Written by - Cameron Crowe

Starring - Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Philip Seymour Hoffman

"For his feature debut, director Cameron Crowe chose to draw inspiration within his own personal experiences as a kid, reporting for Rolling Stone Magazine at a very young age.

The semi autobiographical story of Almost Famous tells the tale of one such kid in the late seventies as he is introduced to the backstage life of a big (fictitious) rock and roll band named Sweetwater, fall in love and parties away from his hometown suburbian lifestyle and over protective mother.

The film can essentially be split into a coming of age comedy drama and the wildest of Billy Wilder influenced comedies. But most of the sheer excitement comes from its representation of the fashionable and distinctively charismatic world of rock and roll music at an arguable height of popularity of the music industry, although the nostalgic representation of its time setting never truly takes over the timelessness of the film's overall appeal."

Almost Famous is exciting, but far from being shallow. There is plenty of sentimentality and sensibility, which in the end aims to also humanise the cult of personality of pop cultural icons. And with music being an obvious key element and driving force of the film, it is only fair to point out that the soundtrack of the film is amazing."

Biopic, USA