Stars: Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, Bijou Phillips, Anna Paquin, Zooey Deschanel, Patrick Fugit, Jimmy Fallon, John Fedevich, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Kozelek

Director: Cameron Crowe

Summary: High school student William is invited to interview an up-and-coming rock band by Rolling Stone magazine. Whilst on the assignment he is drawn into the band's world and there he learns a valuable lesson about life.

Writer-director Cameron Crowe brings the 1970s music scene to life with his semiautobiographical story of a teen journalist who goes on the road with a rock band. Uncool 15-year-old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is living every teenager's dream. He's touring with Stillwater, an up-and-coming rock band featuring lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and charismatic lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and writing about it for Rolling Stone magazine, whose editors are unaware of his young age. Though Miller's mentor, legendary rock critic Lester Bangs--portrayed with humor and heart by Philip Seymour Hoffman--cautions him not to befriend the musicians, Miller takes it a step further and befriends both the band and the Band-Aids--the girls who hang around with the band because they love the music. Newcomer Fugit is the perfect William Miller: baby-faced, slightly gawky, and an awestruck observer. Kate Hudson sparkles as Penny Lane, the leader of the Band-Aids, and Frances McDormand delivers a stellar performance as Elaine, Miller's protective and mildly paranoid mother. In the tradition of SAY ANYTHING and JERRY MAGUIRE, Crowe's coming-of-age tale is intelligent, well written, and infused with humor in unlikely places.

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Almost Famous is the movie Cameron Crowe has been waiting a lifetime to tell. The fictionalisation of Crowe's days as a teenage reporter for Creem and Rolling Stone has all the well-written characters and wonderful "movie moments" that we expect from Crowe (Jerry Maguire), but the film has an intangible something extra--an insider's touch that will turn the film into the ode to '70s rock & roll for years to come. We are introduced to Crowe's alter ego, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), at home, where his progressive mom (Frances McDormand, just superb) has outlawed rock music and sister Anita (Zooey Deschanel) has slipped him LPs that will "set his mind free." Following the wisdom of Creem's disheveled editor, Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman in an instant-classic performance), Miller gets on the inside with the up-and-coming band Stillwater (a fictionalised mixture of the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, and others). A simple visit with the band turns into a three-week, life-altering odyssey into the heyday of American rock. Of the characters he meets on the road, the two most important are groupie extraordinaire Penny Lane (Kate Hudson in a star-making performance) and Stillwater's enigmatic lead guitarist (Billy Crudup), who keeps stringing Miller along for an interview. From the handwritten credits (done by Crowe) to the bittersweet finale, Crowe's comedic valentine is an indelible, heartbreaking romance of music, women, and the privilege of youth. --Doug Thomas

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	HBO Making Of Featurette, Rolling Stones Articles Original Text By Cameron Crowe, Stillwaters Fever Dog Music Video, Filmographies, Production Notes, Trailer, Animated Menus, Interactive Menus
Subtitles:	English, Portuguese, Spanish
Year:	2000
Release Date:	September 10, 2001
Runtime:	122 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 32180
Keywords:	Almost, Comedy, General, Wide, Screen, Famous, Romantic, Drama
Genre:	Drama