Almost Famous

Almost Famous (2000) — watch online on iFILM. Writer-director Cameron Crowe drew on his own teenage years to build this music drama: in 1973, fifteen-year-old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) talks his way into a Rolling Stone assignment and boards a tour bus with the fictional rock band Stillwater. Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, and Frances McDormand star.

William wants to write the story. The band wants to control it. Penny Lane, played by Hudson, travels with the musicians on her own terms and refuses easy definition. McDormand's performance as William's fiercely protective mother anchors every scene she's in. Philip Seymour Hoffman appears as the real-life critic Lester Bangs, handing William the most important piece of advice in the film. Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the film took the Golden Globe in the same category. Stream Almost Famous in full on iFILM.