I finally sat down and watched the Almost Famous Bootleg Bluray, and it hasn’t diminished a bit since I last caught it on DVD. What a seriously great (and unfortunately unseen, for the most part) rock ‘n’ roll heart movie. Chock-full of sly, luscious, lived-in performances, led by Phillip Seymour Hoffman‘s great Lester Bangs and, on the sub-supporting level, Jimmy Fallon‘s road manager.

And I’d completely forgotten that Rainn Wilson (33 when it was shot in ’99) and Jay Baruchel (17 during filming) had significant small roles. And I was reminded once again by Kate Hudson’s just-about-perfect performance as Penny Lane career what a quarter-inc-deep tragedy her career has been since.

Fallon: “‘Cause if you think Mick Jagger is still gonna be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, you’re sadly, sadly mistaken.”

Here’s hoping again that We Bought A Zoo, the currently rolling feature from Almost Famous director-writer Cameron Crowe, pans out.