Cameron Crowe: Portrait of the director as a young rock critic.

Many people seem to think that films like "Say Anything …" or "Jerry
Maguire" are romantic comedies with happy endings. However, if you dig
deeper, they seem to be subversive movies about codependency: Jerry
Maguire and Dorothy Boyd get together out of loneliness and, at the end
of the film, aren't holding hands with each other but rather with the
kid while Dylan's "Shelter From the Storm" is playing. In "Say Anything
…," Diane Court comes back to Lloyd Dobler, but only when her father
deceives her.

Definitely. And with "Almost Famous," I just didn't want
anybody to end up with anybody that they're expected to end up with. The
only love story here is between the sister and the mom, and they don't
truly bond properly — and still it ends up being hopeful. After
watching this, people have said, "Oh, it's sweet," and I always feel
like if it's so sweet, then why is it based on such pain in my own life?