Almost Famous...Perfection?

I've tried writing this, like, three times. I'm watching Almost Famous for the second time in as many days, and I keep wondering what makes this movie so good.

The music, definitely. As a mostly red-blooded American, I do enjoy Southern Rock.

The cast is great. This is probably Kate Hudson's best performance, as Penny Lane, Stealer of Hearts. Jason Lee as Jeff Bebe is so...Jason Lee. Acting with his hands, getting excited and yelling. Great. And Billy Crudup as Russell Hammond. This is what I think of when I think of Billy Crudup. He is amazing in this movie. The rest of the cast is good too, but these three are my standouts.

Oh, and Patrick Fugit. I think he's mostly disappeared, but he is very good here.

But this movie is more than that. I think it's partly Cameron Crowe's writing and directing. His characters are very real. Their dialogue, their actions. Despite their faults, you want to be friends with these people. You know that these people will bring out the best in you, and your life will be noticeably more shallow without them in it.

And after briefly skimming the IMDB trivia page for this movie, you can see that Crowe packed so much love and information in his script. Watching, you can see it and feel it. It is mostly autobiographical, after all.

I don't know. Almost Famous just jumped into my Top 10, and maybe my Top 5.