A magnificent narrative (Academy Award screenplay win) fueled by Crowe’s best work as a director, a perfect (or near- I have one nitpick) rock soundtrack, and tremendous ensemble performances
Deserved supporting actress noms from both Frances McDormand (who turns a cliché (the over-protective mother) into a person), and the luminous Kate Hudson
The ensemble is a who’s who and Crowe deserves credit for assembling them (PSH and McDormand are two of the greatest of all-time and he has them here in their prime in key supporting performances)—Billy Crudup is perfect but you have Fairuza Balk, Zooey Deschanel— the one weak spot is Patrick Fugit as Crowe here (the scene of him yelling is cringe-worthy but he is sweet)- he’s a bit of a vessel though and some of his awkwardness works in the character like the Linklater surrogate in Dazed and Confused
John toll- the dp from The Thin Red Line and Legends of the Fall
The soundtrack has its highs (“America” by Simon and Garkfunkel”, “Tiny Dancer” in the bus with the cast sing-a-long which is a great scene)- but “The Wind” from Cat Stevens is a flaw- it was just in, (and used so well in) Rushmore in 1998—pick something different
On top of the soundtrack- the Nancy Wilson soundtrack (Jerry McGuire, Vanilla Sky– also with Crowe) is excellent—again- detail here for Crowe- he could have skated with just the rock soundtrack
Apparently PSH filmed all his scenes in one weekend where he had the cold- the scene of him that “good looking people have no spine” is one of the film’s greatest movements—
Another of the film’s great moments is Kate Hudson asking Fugit’s character what kind of beer she was traded for while fighting back tears. It’s Hudson’s finest acting moment.
The screenplay is nearly flawless but I could do without the “in” jokes about Mick Jagger doing this when he’s 50 and the “mojo” fax machine thing that takes 18 minutes per page. It’s winking at 2000 audiences
The film overall is stylistically quieter than other films ahead of it on the top 10 of 2000—it’s largely a screenplay and acting achievement (of the highest order) but I do love the cross-cutting and close-up on the dueling green eyes of Hudson and Fugit as he falls for her
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