A coming-of-age tale that's not completely satisfying, but almost

"Almost Famous" is not the best film of the year. The plot is strained and predictable, several of the characters are two-dimensional and the comedy often springs out of nowhere and overwhelms the balance of the narrative. Despite these weaknesses, however, "Almost Famous" is a touching portrait of, among other things, a dying rock and roll culture, the pangs of puberty and the enchantment of first love. Because of its sentiment, its intelligence and most of all, its honesty, this film succeeds in spite of its obvious shortcomings.

"Almost Famous" centers on William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a music-loving teen whom "Rolling Stone" magazine assigns to accompany the rock group Stillwater on a cross-country tour. The fictional Stillwater is a mid-level band that is expected to break into the big time. During the tour, William falls in love, learns what it means to be a writer and, of course, discovers how to leave home, both physically and emotionally.

On top of this loose frame, screenwriter and director Cameron Crowe throws some petty conflicts — Will William be able to print his article in Rolling Stone? Will Stillwater's lead singer Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) ever find redemption? — and the resolutions of these subplots are as artificial as the subplots themselves. The drama and the rollicking atmosphere of "Almost Famous" lie in the episodic narration of incidents on the road, rather than the secondary plot points.

Unfortunately, this scrapbook quality undermines both the film's plot and its deeper themes. Thus, the most affecting exchanges happen not on the road but rather when William returns home and talks to his rock-and-roll journalism mentor, Lester Bangs — a comic yet truthful performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the most accomplished character actors working today.

Perhaps the best way to explain the successes and failures of "Almost Famous" is that it is largely autobiographical. Crowe, who burst onto the movie scene with his incredibly successful screenplay for the teen movie "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" and cemented his success in 1996 with "Jerry Maguire," shares the life story of his protagonist, William.

A precocious teen, Crowe wrote for Rolling Stone when he was 15 years old, just as William does in "Almost Famous." In fact, the actor Fugit physically resembles Crowe, a move by the filmmaker that cannot have been unintentional.

In "Almost Famous," Crowe lovingly documents the world of the road tour. What could easily appear seedy and corrupt — the drugs, sex, and rock and roll on the Stillwater tour — becomes a sort of raucous version of the Partridge family. Even the orgiastic scene of William's "deflowering" seems bubbly and friendly, as the groupies-with-hearts-of-gold decide that it is time for him to become a man.

Crowe clearly loved the experience of being submerged in rock and roll culture, and the audience also gets caught up in the upbeat group mentality, even though the women on the tour (the "Band-Aids") are groupies trading sex for contact with celebrities, and the rock stars themselves are little more than megalomaniacal twits.

Or are they? In one of his least effective characterizations, Crowe attempts to give depth to lead singer Russell, played by the devastatingly attractive Crudup. During the tour, Russell cheats on his girlfriend regularly with the groupie Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), drops acid and proclaims that he is "a golden god" while standing on top of a fan's roof. Overall, he seems remarkably stupid and unsympathetic.

Russell would be a fine character if Crowe left it at this; however, Crowe suggests toward the end of the film that Russell is a nice guy even though he traded his mistress to another band for $20 and a case of beer. His talent and love of music redeem him. Unfortunately, Crowe's earlier depiction of Russell as a moron and a jerk is much more convincing. Perhaps Crowe cannot get away from the enchantment with rock stars that he himself felt as a teenager, and yet is unable to explain the foibles and weaknesses — and just plain stupidity — that he witnessed.

Crowe does have the creative distance from William's mother to present a well-rounded, detailed character with her own quirks, feelings and faults. Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) celebrates Christmas in September because it is over-commercialized in December, explains to her college class that rock stars have kidnapped her son and is unable to express to her daughter how much she cares about her. McDormand portrays this character with just the right mix of irony and emotion.

Far more nuanced than the maternal portraits presented in recent family dramas such as "Stepmom," Elaine is the kind of middle-aged female character so often ignored in Hollywood, and her complexity helps prevent this film from becoming a paradigmatic parent-child rebellion story.

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Elaine is terrified that her son will be swallowed by the rock and roll revolution, constantly begging him not to use drugs. What she doesn't realize, as Crowe does and articulates through his character Lester Bangs, is that the rock and roll revolution is over. The 1960s have disappeared, and the 1970s music scene that arose from the ashes of that era is moving away from its ideals. The rock god must find a new incarnation, and Stillwater, as the band's name suggests, is not changing with the times. Even the groupies, as the Band-Aid Sapphire (Fairuza Balk) laments, are changing.

For William to successfully grow up, he must break away from the unchanging and oblivious world of Stillwater. He must find the awareness that the band members lack. In his relationship with Penny Lane — played by the adorable Hudson, whose winsome smile enchants the camera — William realizes the ravages of the Neverland world of the road tour. Penny lacks self respect as much as she does identity, existing under a pseudonym while she is on the road. As William strives more and more earnestly to break the enchantment surrounding her, he finds awareness — sometimes disheartening but always empowering — of himself.

Patrick Fugit plays Willism Miller, a teenage journalist covering the band Stillwater for "Rolling Stone" magazine, and Kate Hudson is groupie Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's autobiographic ode to the '70s rock scene, "Almost Famous."