Hey folks, Harry here with a strange and peculiar spy this time out. He once played an extra in Mimic, lost a part in BEGINNING OF THE END because he was the wrong species.... but this morning when Gregor Samsa woke up from an unsettling wet dream, he found himself changed from a monstrous vermin to... a monstrous filmgoing Los Angelino. His antennae tucked away and his exo-endoed, he scurried his way into a screening of Cameron Crowe's latest work of genius? I don't know, let's read and see...
Hey harry, Robie’s partner in crime here….just saw Cameron Crowe’s “untitled” formerly “Stillwater.”
This one is going down in history. Possibly best movie of this year, or next…whenever it is released. And it is definitely going to be one of the past decade’s top five.
First off…the movie rocks. It is so well done. I know I sound like an industry mole here, but God…it really was as good as it gets. It works on so many levels, its believable, its honest, its funny, and most of all, its got heart. I don’t want to ruin any portion of the movie for your readers so I am gonna be very careful to not spoil anything….
The movie deals with the story of a young adoloescent, William played by Patrick Fugit, who finds himself amidst a middle rung rock band’s “almost famous” tour trying to be a credible journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Crowe uses stories I am sure are plucked right from his life to put together William’s journey into finding out what the life of a 1973 rock band is really like. That’s why this movie works so well though…everything is completely believable, and not overdramatized it is like you can actually see this stuff happening to Crowe in his earlier days.
Newcomer Patrick Fugit plays this character so well…his performance is definitely something that the suits over at Dreamworks are gonna be remembering when Crowe wins the Oscar for this one….yeah yeah..I know that is a little enthusiastic, but hey, when you see this you will know what I am so giddy about. Ok ok…back to the review…
Fugit’s chracater goes through some changes in this movie have been done over and over in movies, but Crowe handles them with such compassion and veracity that they role across the screen effortlessly. There is an interesting romance that develops between William and Goldie Hawn’s hot daughter Kate Hudson, who plays a groupie (BandAid as she said). It isn’t played for laughs or tears, it’s just done to be real. No cheese! I was amazed when the movie was over that I hadn’t once thought about how cheesy the romance was. It is a definite improvement over the overly gushy romance in Jerry Maguire.
Now the relationship between William and the band is also done extremely well…emphasized by career performances by Billy Crudup of “Without Limits” fame and Jason Lee known best for The Jersey Trilogy. Crudup plays Russel, Stillwater’s mysterious lead guitarist, who is caught up in the hedonistic side of being a rock star. And Lee plays the ego driven lead singer Jeff. There is something about and adolescent hanging around with full fledged rock Gods that seems so surreal and unimaginable, but Crowe puts it up there and you just know that this happened…and it happened this way.
I could really go on and on about what makes this movie so great…but I won’t.
Aside from me touting this movie any longer, I will say that there was one bad line (I know, only one bad line?) that, even though the audience seemed to like it, I think should be removed or changed. It’s a gay joke placed right where you expect it, you know its coming because its been done before so many times. Completely unoriginal and too easy for a movie this good. So that really is my only complaint. And, before I forget, the version I saw was titled “untitled.” And it’s the perfect title for this movie. Its not about the band Stillwater. Its about a kid, a girl, a magazine, a rock n roll band, and most of all, its about integrity in art in a commercial world. Go see this movie on opening night. Crowe outdid himself on this one.
Farewell from near the Labs and from under the fridge,
Gregor Samsa
