Watch Almost Famous For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely brilliant

Almost Famous is the story of a fifteen-year old boy who becomes a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. This may seem like a pretty farfetched premise, but this film is, in part, the story of writer-director Cameron Crowe who was the youngest writer Rolling Stone ever had. The film, set in the early 70's, is a coming-of-age film about independence, maturation, principles, and compromise.Newcomer Patrick Fugit plays William Miller, the 15-year old who stumbles into the opportunity of a lifetime when the editor of Rolling Stone asks him to do a story on Stillwater, an up-and-coming band. Along the way William meets Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) who describes herself as a band-aide. In the most predictable development in the plot, William falls in love with Penny while Penny falls in love with lead guitarist Russell (played by Billy Crudup). As the story unfolds, William is thrown into the world that Janis Joplin described with the anthem "drugs, sex, and rock and roll."While William is clearly a babe in the woods (and a lamb among wolves), as he struggles to find his way we discover that he is the only person on the scene with a functioning moral compass. William does lose his way at points, but in many ways he becomes the moral center of the Stillwater entourage. Frances McDormand--the Oscar-winning actress who plays William's mother--provides some of the more charming moments in the film. She is the anchor that keeps William connected and grounded. She is also over-the-edge with anxiety and occasionally lectures various members of the Stillwater entourage.In Crowe's previous blockbuster, Jerry Maguire, Crowe gave us a vivid portrait of a sports agent who had become jaded and wanted to recapture some of the innocence he had lost. The moral dimensions and ethical dilemmas are similar here, but in Almost Famous the portrait is of the innocent before the fall. For this kind of portrayal, casting is critical, and newcomer Fugit does not disappoint. Perhaps because this is his first major role it is easy for him to show us the wide-eyed wonder and fear of the émigré from Eden who becomes a babe in Babylon.It is the depiction of Babylon that gets this film its R rating. But the message at the core of the film is G through and through. When William finds his way he finds his voice, and challenges the shallowness and superficiality of the lives of those around him. In so doing, he calls them to a more authentic form of existence, and some of the lives he has touched begin to change for the better. This film has many of the common features of coming-of-age films, but excellent writing, a unique plot line, and excellent performances put this one a bit above the rest.

Except for an almost decent soundtrack, I found very little to like about this film, and marvel at the effusive praise for the film from a wide range of IMDb reviewers. If fifteen year old 'Rolling Stone' writer William Miller (Patrick Fugit) had taken Lester Bangs' (Philip Seymour Hoffman) advice, we might have had an honest and unmerciful portrayal of an aspiring rock band, but instead got a somewhat sanitized look at the sex, drugs and rock n' roll scene of The Seventies. And speaking of which, the idea of a fifteen year old rock journalist writing for 'Rolling Stone' just took all credibility out of the picture for me, not to mention fifteen year old Band-Aids like Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) criss-crossing the country to keep tabs on their favorite band. The word that kept coming back to me from those days was 'teenybopper' and it seemed to me that the picture was made for an audience comprised of nothing but. The only kick I got out of this picture was when the hot shot manager wanna-be (that was Jimmy Fallon?) tries to strong-arm the members of Stillwater into signing with him by stating "...if you think Mick Jagger'll still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, you're sadly mistaken". Hmm, seems to me that at nearly seventy-five!!! as I write this, Jagger has a lot more staying power than anyone else associated with this picture.

It's the 70s, the golden age of rock-n-roll. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are on the rise and the genre couldn't be more relevant. Enter one William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a budding rock critic and journalist, who gets a chance from Rolling Stones magazine to tour with Stillwater, one of his favourite bands, with the idea of publishing an article about them. The only problem being that he's a bit young, only 15 years old, which is pretty young for the rocky road ahead.The biggest draw of this film is its absolutely brilliant take on the culture behind rock-n-roll in the 70s. That culture is the real star of the film. It's not even really about the music. The band Stillwater is completely fictitious, as are all of the characters. The other bands sited and the magazine are real enough, but that's about it. There aren't even that many scenes of Stillwater playing in the film. Yet this is one of the best films about music I've seen in my life. Because it takes a certain kind of person to uproot yourself, travel across the country, play and compose music. Not to mention those that travel with them with the sole purpose of supporting the phenomenon that is the band.The film explores this culture in a really great way through the eyes of William. Because he is a critic. He purposefully puts himself in an outsider's position. His self-appointed task is to observe so that he can later tell about it to others. The film would be quite different if it was told from the point of view of Russell, Stillwater's lead guitarist and the second most important character in the film.This is a great film for all lovers of rock and music in general. It's acted and shot really well, but its understanding of culture is what truly elevates it above its peers.

I saw this movie for the first time recently and I have to say it's probably one of the most touching films I've ever experienced. There's really something special about it. I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something that makes it really different; it gives off a certain mood that I've never before experienced in film. Maybe it's the music, which is incredible and perfectly sets the tone and the mood in each given scene. Maybe it's Kate Hudson's incomparable Penny Lane, who is not only a joy to watch on the screen but also a surprisingly complex and even tragic character, a truly amazing performance by Hudson in this role.The fact is, pretty much everything about this film is stellar. It flawlessly encompasses an era.The casting is brilliant, and pretty much every actor delivers a solid performance. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is remarkable as always and steals every scene he's in. It's also quite a fun movie, and some of the scenes with the band members got me laughing pretty hard. The script is very sharp and relatable. It's surprisingly lengthy, but it always felt light; I never felt bored or uninterested at any point.It has it's flaws, as all movies do, but not many are too noticeable. I think the biggest problem is that the whole thing is just so incredibly sweet that it's almost too much so. It can't really help it though. It's just so touching in so many different ways. I actually kind of wanted to hug someone while watching it, and that doesn't happen often from watching a movie.Overall, a very heartwarming and memorable film. The characters are relatable and the execution of the story is very realistic. It was fun from beginning to end. It quite funny at times, and quite moving in others.It had me singing "Tiny Dancer" for days...