this is the way all commentaries should be done.
there is an extra twenty minutes of chatter BEFORE the film even begins as Cameron Crowe, Ione Skye and John Cusack chat in the same room about how the film came to be........then after twenty minutes the film starts and we get the full length of the movie to hear them talk about the production..........HIGHLY recommended.!!!!

I agree with the previous person, the 20 minutes of discussion prior to the film actually beginning was a fantastic idea. In regular commentaries, it seems like the people involved always want to say more, but the film moves onto something else and then they get distracted. On this one, there is plenty of time to discuss how the film came about so when the movie actually begins, they just get right into it. That said, this is one of the most informative commentaries i've ever listened to. If you like this film or the people involved even a little bit, you should listen to it. The story about how the character of Lloyd was created was such a joy to listen to. Highly recommended!

Just heard this and it's quite good to listen to John Cusack, writer director Cameron Crowe and...what's her face. I love Crowe's enthusiasm and real love for the film. He keeps citing his favorite parts and talks about what a personal story this movie was for him. It seems that there's possibly some unrequited love for at least one of the actors. I'm betting on Ione Skye. She alludes to something more than once. Cusack defends by using the word good 'friends'. Listen and make what you want out of that.
Cameron Crowe himself is always a good listen in any commentary he does. Always full of on set as well as personal stories. He touches on writing the film especially in the pre-commmentary introduction. He's very sentimental about the movie here, it being his first directed. He's very self effacing about how he learned from others on set and also the mistakes he made. He can afford to, he ended up making a great film.