Almost Famous

Desparate to become a music journalist, "William" (Patrick Fugit) is offered the chance to write by local critic "Bangs" (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and that sees him at the stage door trying to blag his way in. Luckily for him, he befriends "Penny Lane" (Kate Hudson) and support act "Stillwater" and is soon inside, immersed in a world that plays out for us over the next two hours. He's a young and impressionable lad who's taken under the wing of the band's "Russell" (Bill Crudup) who keeps promising him an exclusive interview for "Rolling Stone", but that means he has to travel with the band across the USA whilst mother "Elaine" (Frances McDormand) panics a little at home. The lad is only 15! It's through his eyes that we get a glimpse of how the itinerant music industry might work. Coaches, planes, hotels, drugs, booze, hookers - it's real yet it isn't. They live out of suitcases with the promise of fame and fortune always just around the (next) corner. Maybe a new manager will change all that, maybe they don't really want to change at all? Fugit delivers well as the conduit for the story and as he experiences more he becomes less gullible and star-struck. He begins to see things for what they really are - and so do we. A fly on the wall rockumentary that is occasionally funny because that's how they lived, loved and performed and though I didn't really like the ending so much, it's still a powerfully poignant look at backstage behaviour amongst some of the most selfish and introspective who have lost sight of why they bothered in the first place. Any of them. Big screen is best, not least because the audio for the great 1970s soundtrack is worth hearing too.