reception

Box Office

Almost Famous had its premiere at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. 12 It was subsequently given a limited release on September 15, 2000, in 131 theaters where it grossed $2.3 million on its first weekend. It was given a wider release on September 22, 2000, in 1,193 theaters where it grossed $6.9 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make $31.7 million in North America and $14.8 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $47.4 million against a $60 million budget. 13

Critical Response

Almost Famous received widespread critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 89% approval rating, based on 166 reviews, with an average rating of 7.92/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, ‘Almost Famous, with its great ensemble performances and story, is a wellcrafted, warm-hearted movie that successfully draws you into its era.’ 14 On Metacritic it has a score of 90 of 100, based on 38 reviews, indicating ‘universal acclaim.’ 15

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and described it as “funny and touching in so many different ways.’ 16 In his review for The New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, ‘The movie’s real pleasures are to be found not in its story but in its profusion of funny, offbeat scenes. It’s the kind of picture that invites you to go back and savor your favorite moments like choice album cuts.’ 17 Richard Corliss of Time praised the film’s screenplay for ‘giving each character his reasons, making everyone in the emotional debate charming and compelling, creating

fictional people who breathe in a story with an organic life.’ 18 In her review for the L.A. Weekly, Manohla Dargis wrote that ‘the film shimmers with the irresistible pleasures that define Hollywood at its best; it’s polished like glass, funny, knowing and bright, and filled with characters whose lives are invariably sexier and more purposeful than our own.’ 19 Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, ‘Not since A Hard Day’s Night has a movie caught the thrumming exuberance of going where the music takes you.’ 20 In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, ‘Character-driven, it relies on chemistry, camaraderie, a sharp eye for detail and good casting. 21 Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, ‘best-of’ list, saying, ‘Every Cameron Crowe film is, in one way or another, about romance, rock & roll, and his romance with rock & roll. This power ballad of a movie, from 2000, also happens to be Crowe’s greatest (and most personal) film thanks to the golden gods of Stillwater and their biggest fan, Kate Hudson’s incomparable Penny Lane.’ 22

Entertainment Weekly gave the film an ‘A–’ rating and Owen Gleiberman praised Crowe for depicting the 1970s as ‘an era that found its purpose in having no purpose. Crowe, staying close to his memories, has gotten it, for perhaps the first time, onto the screen. 23 In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan praised Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Lester Bangs: ‘Superbly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, more and more the most gifted and inspired character actor working in film, what could have been the clichéd portrait of an older mentor who

Reception

speaks the straight truth blossoms into a marvelous personality.’ 24 However, in his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris felt that ‘none of the non-musical components on the screen matched the excitement of the music. For whatever reason, too much of the dark side has been left out.’ 25 Desson Howe, in his review for The Washington Post, found it ‘very hard to see these long-haired kids as products of the 1970s instead of dressed up actors from the Seattle-Starbucks era. I couldn’t help wondering how many of these performers had to buy a CD copy of the song and study it for the first time.’ 26