Almost Famous

As a music and culture journalist and also as a human being, this film invented me. I was a senior in high school when I saw it for the first time. At the time, I was desperate to rebrand as cool and hot in time for college. It goes without saying that Penny Lane was aspirational to me for all the wrong reasons. Look at how pretty she is. Look at how she commands a room. Look at how much the rock stars like her. I never became a Penny Lane-type. No matter how carefully I curate my interests (and my wardrobe), effortlessly cool has always eluded me. I think I was 22 when I rewatched this film and realized I was actually William, the kid whose dorky, earnest love for music sometimes lands him in enviable situations. He’s on the road with his favorite band writing a cover story for the biggest music magazine in the world, but he’s also worried about missing tests at school and working up the nerve to talk to the girl he likes. I’m 29 now and I still feel like “the kid” when I’m on assignment. The “wallflower at the orgy,” as Nora Ephron once put it. But that’s okay and the whole point of this movie is how okay that is. Almost Famous, the title and the sentiment, is about how doing what you love and doing it authentically is more important than being the life of the party. It’s also about how teenage girls shouldn’t (and I can’t emphasize this enough) be backstage at rock concerts anyway.