Almost Famous: Critic Reviews

A blissfully sweet coming-of-age movie in which everyone, young and less young, comes of age.

None of the non-musical components on the screen matched the excitement of the music.

Neither as outright funny nor as resonant as it seems to want to be.

This is the celluloid version of a glossy magazine feature -- easily perused, modestly entertaining, the kind of piece designed to please the publisher by not taxing (or offending) the reader.

The movie's so clever and endearing, you can forget the almost.

A winner because Crowe dares to wear his heart on his sleeve. For this movie at least, he's with the band.

will satisfy many music fans for its honest portrayal of the rock-band life

...funny, joyous, touching, and moving...a very personal film and a most-universal one combined.

Great, but lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

Director Cameron Crowe won the Original Screenplay Oscar for his warmly nostalgic, often sharply observed memoir of his early days as a music journalist

Whether disappointed or elated, Cameron Crowe's observations are trenchant. Instinct is the greatest asset as idols let you down. That first gulp of passion in a profession can quench you for years. Quite often, bassists and drummers have little to say.

It's a world of brotherhood, groupies, the bright spotlight of fame, and the bitterness of business, packaged into a gushing, intuitive valentine from Crowe to his former magical life.

Cameron Crowe has a knack for making contagious movies that pull audiences into a whirlpool of situations that make you feel impossibly cool because his characters aren't near as cool as their surroundings imply.

Easily the best film on Crowe's already impressive roster.

The film's charm owes far more to its creator's brilliant writing than to his anonymous direction.

Crowe softens just about everything, as if he didn't want to hurt the feelings of anyone he knew back then.

Most of the film is a testament to Mr. Crowe's impressive grasp of the music industry, its relationships, and its particular definition of cool and uncool.

It's a sweet-minded, picaresque story, woolly with some of its dramatic details, but stacked with attractions...

Profoundly affecting.

Almost perfect on numerous levels.

An endearing, inspiring film that truly has something to offer for everyone.

The acting is unforgettable.

It's a well-modulated, immensely likable picture that's finally too polite for both its subject matter and its critical theme.

There's a magic around everyone and everything here that reminds us of how the world looked when we were still children, still in awe of the world.

Cameron Crowe got it right with his autobiographical story about a teen-age writer for Rolling Stone magazine.