Well I went to the Almost Famous screening last night with a reception afterwards for scmoozing. (Not too often there’s an open bar at a movie screening. Too bad I don’t drink.) Cameron Crowe was supposed to be there but apparently pre-production on his latest got moved up and he was in L.A. instead. Major bummer there. And if any of the cast was there, they were well-hidden so my plans to become Anna Paquin’s love slave were foiled. I was also kept from meeting Jason Lee and making an ass out of myself by being a fanboy. Damn and blast! Cool people I spotted included Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil, both formerly of Soundgarden.

The movie was excellent. I’m sure you already know the plot so I won’t bore you with a retelling. There are a lot of great moments in the film and it was great to see the two young actors (Fugit and Hudson) be able to hold their own on the screen when there wasn’t anyone else around. Of course Jason Lee was excellent and it’s getting easier and easier to see him as being able to hold an entire film, like say Fletch, on his own. Rather, I already believed that, but I think mainstream audiences will be better able to accept it now…. I’m sure Lee fans will want to see more of him on the screen but it felt about right to me. Better you come away from a film wanting more instead of wanting less.

The audience, which was all local media and promotions people – no “regular public” – was enthusiastic and everyone I spoke to afterward enjoyed the film. I think that anyone who enjoys Cameron Crowe and has an idea what the film is about won’t go away disapointed. Jeffrey Wells called it a Best-Picture contender which seems a little optimistic to me, but here’s hoping.

Tue, Sep 12 9:30pm HBO East
Thu, Sep 21 10:30pm HBO East
Fri, Sep 22 11:00am HBO East
Mon, Sep 25 12:40am HBO East
Sat, Sep 30 3:30pm HBO East

Crowed Out

Everyone says I’ve written too much about Almost Famous, so this is the last time until I get into it again at the Toronto Film Festival, about a month from now. And here’s the hot news: the Almost Famous DVD is going to be a corker. According to writer/director/producer Cameron Crowe, it’ll have two versions of the film – the two-hour, two-minute version that’ll hit theaters on September 15, and a two-hour, 40-minute version on the disc’s flip side that’ll be called Untitled. I got this from Crowe himself last weekend.

The longer Untitled version should be a helluva treat, with all kinds of good stuff that had to be cut out for the theatrical release. I’m told it’s the version that Crowe and others on his Vinyl Films staff prefer. I know about these missing elements because some of them are in the script I first read in May 1999 (and reviewed that month in my Mr. Showbiz column).

Sometime between now and the film’s opening day I’ll probably run some of these cut scenes in the column.As the film’s associate producer Scott Martin told me last week, “There’s so much great material that wasn’t included [in the theatrical version].”

Last weekend I went to the Almost Famous junket in San Diego on DreamWorks’ dime. I saw the film a second time and enjoyed it just as much as my first encounter. I still think it doesn’t quite coagulate at the very end due to the omission of a certain scene, but this is the difference between a grade of 93% (an A-minus) and a grade of 98% (an A-plus).