2. Almost Famous
Before Cameron Crowe forgot how to make good films (see: Elizabethtown) he made some pretty great stuff - Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire in particular standing out. What's curious about all of these films is their fairly strict adherence to the ManComic template, with the quality of each determined by the extent to which they make the material more interesting. Elizabethtown, for example, is painfully bland; Jerry Maguire far more enjoyable if a little sentimental; and Almost Famous taking the most interesting and consistently entertaining path of the three. The Film centres around William Miller, a teenager from a painfully suburban, middle-class background who aspires to be a successful music journalist. The plot follows William as he accompanies up-and-coming band Stillwater on their US tour, mingling with musicians, managers, hangers-on and, importantly, groupies - one of whom, the mysterious Penny Lane (Kate Hudson, never better), he falls for. It has all the traits outlined above, submerged slightly by the overall chaos of the piece and rendered more interesting by the fact that it never really develops into anything more than youthful infatuation - at peace with the general theme of growing up that the film is based around. It's a shame that Crowe has never really been able to match the success of his early work, but at least we can still sit back and enjoy what fleeting glory he had.