almost almost famous..

Rating: 5/10 (5 September 2001)

Pretty disappointing in all honesty. Saw a preview last night and the (half empty) theatre was sporadically woken up by the admittedly good music. Rock star wannabee Wahlberg gets the call from English "metal' band Steel Dragon (played hysterically by a motley crue *pun* of English actors including the excellent Spall) and drops everything to head out to LA. Amazingly, he is upset and initially unwilling to live the life and sticks with his girl, his previous "band manager" and useless waste of space Aniston, reprising every bad role she ever did. The movie can't decide whether to be an all-out comedy (the Mom and Pa duo are much more interesting than the rest of the movie) but ultimately it's a couple of hours of mindless entertainment. Leave before the vomit-inducing last five minutes if possible. But do enjoy the soundtrack, the exciting gig sequences and the (almost) believable Marky mark.