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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Almost Famous
Universal acclaim
Based on 39 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 93 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by: Cameron Crowe
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 13, 2000
DVD: March 13, 2001
Running Time: 122 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language, drug content and brief nudity
Starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin, and Zooey Deschanel
In the 1970's, a high school boy (Fugit) is given an opportunity to follow and write a story about the hot new rock band Stillwater (with lead guitarist Crudup) as they tour the USA.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Elizabethtown Jerry Maguire Say Anything... Vanilla Sky
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
If you haven't already sold your soul to rock & roll, Almost Famous should seal the deal.
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
See it and it'll stay with you as your own memories do: funny, poignant, bittersweet and irreplaceable.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
So Almost Famous is almost fabulous. Oh, all right. The movie's so clever and endearing, you can forget the almost.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's not only the most gentle and effortlessly funny movie so far this year, it's a film with a style and sensibility that wonderfully harkens back to Hollywood's golden age of sophisticated comedy, and in particular to the masterpieces of Crowe's filmmaking idol, Billy Wilder.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
An unqualified triumph, the year's best movie so far.
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A rich, marvelous movie -- the kind that enchants on so many different levels, it leaves you feeling giddy.
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A great movie -- and the best movie ever about the '70s rock era.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
I loved this movie madly, and so will many of you.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Oh, what a lovely film. I was almost hugging myself while I watched it.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
What Mr. Crowe has done is nonetheless remarkable. He has made a movie about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll that you would be happy to take your mother to see.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Crowe, staying close to his memories, has gotten it, for perhaps the first time, onto the screen.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
One lucky guy, on a roll with rock.
TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly
Crowe has never been better.
Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
The first relevant film about rock and roll and the music industry, the first film that lets you in on the secret.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Andy Klein
Fugit and Hudson, despite getting fifth and third billing, are really the stars here; and they give the movie a genuine center of gravity.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Stephen Miller
Sharply observed, bittersweet and suffused with the kind of detail that only someone who lived through the era could summon up, Crowe's script is funny, heartfelt and very cool.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin
A must-see.
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Crowe has made a hugely entertaining, nearly pitch-perfect film about rock & roll.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It takes the rock movie into regions it has never been before.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Crowe's world is an open ecosystem --transcendentally open. This movie is his boombox held aloft.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Crowe has created a genuine love song for all those who've ever felt their lives to have been saved by rock & roll.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Hollywood filmmaking at its best, brimming over with feeling, texture, spirit, and several kinds of keenness that transmute experience into big pop myth.
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Crowe gave Kate Hudson one pointer while making Almost Famous: Her character simply had to light up every room as soon as she walked into it.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
Crowe's script is a thing of wonder, and he again proves himself to be an outstanding director of actors.
San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
More often than not the film casts an infectious, evocative spell.
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Like rock 'n' roll itself, the movie's really all about girls. Even when -- no, especially when -- it's pretending not to be.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
More gentle and modestly insightful than it is exhilarating or revelatory.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Though acid is dropped, groupies are bartered like poker chips and rock-star egos flare like fireworks, what comes through is the relative innocence of that era.
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This has much of the warmth and feeling for adolescence that Crowe displayed in his first feature ("Say Anything"), though the slick showboating of "Jerry Maguire" isn't entirely absent either.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Fugit gives a starmaking performance as the teenage reporter, and Crudup and Lee are excellent as the band's lead guitarist and singer, respectively.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Crowe is so good on mood and milieu that when Elton John's bubblegum ballad "Tiny Dancer" swells on the soundtrack, in this context it sounds like a hymn.
Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
Has the sentiment and sweetness of a good coming-of-age movie but lacks the drive and pulse that makes for a great rock and roll movie.
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
A sweet but curiously unfulfilling story.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 93 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Collin P gave it a10:
Hands down, my favorite film of the 21st Century (so far).
Waldo J. gave it a5:
One of the most disappointing films I have ever seen in my life. I love movies, I love classic rock, I, like the protagonist, discovered rock at a young age. However, the film is one word: BLAND. And bland is most certainly not a word you would associate with coming of age and the power of rock and roll. It's based on Crowe's own experiences, but it makes you wonder: Did he water it down or was it all really this uneventful? The performances by Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, and Jason Lee are very solid, while the usually great Frances McDormand was handed an underwritten character. Kate Hudson, meanwhile, plays "band aid" Penny Lane in a lifeless, generic fashion that makes it unlikely anyone would fall for her, and that she would have an interest in anything, let alone rock and roll. The film lopes along and never gains momentum, and leaves you with a flat feeling. If you want the real spirit of rock music, watch A Hard Day's Night, School of Rock, American Graffiti, and Dazed and Confused, and forget Almost Famous.
Harper J. gave it a10:
You can't say you dislike rock and roll after this movie, you feel like you were the one on tour with them.
Morgan W gave it a10:
This movie is my all time favorite movie. I first saw this movie on tv when i was 14 and it changed my whole view on music. I thought pop music was good, haha not anymore!. i wish i was penny lane, kate plays her perfectly; she should of won the oscar.The band was so real. i love every scene, and the music in them is perfect. Crow did an amazing job and I wish i had grown up in this era so i could of excperence it instead of wishing.
Josh G gave it a9:
This movie was amazing. I've watched this movie more than any other movie. It really captures the spirit of rock n' roll. Kate Hudson's character was AMAZING. The Tiny Dancer bus scene is obviously one of, if not the best scene in the whole movie as well. Fantastic film.
Casper L. gave it a10:
I loved this movie. Funny, heartfelt, and great acting. One of my favorites.
Susan L. gave it a10:
Camerpn Crowe, a marvelous soundtrack and a story set at the nadir of great rock music. What more do you want?
