An honorable failure -- maybe even a noble one. Certainly, it's an ambitious one. But it is a failure.
August Rush (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:116
Fresh:44
Rotten:72
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Though featuring a talented cast, August Rush cannot overcome the flimsy direction and schmaltzy plot.
Australian Rating: PG [See Full Rating] Mild themes and infrequent violence
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Dramas
Australian Theatrical Release:
Feb 21, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $31,529,568
Synopsis: AUGUST RUSH is part romance, part gentle fantasy, but this sweet drama is all heart. When young cellist Lyla (Keri Russell) and rock musician Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) meet at a party in the mid... AUGUST RUSH is part romance, part gentle fantasy, but this sweet drama is all heart. When young cellist Lyla (Keri Russell) and rock musician Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) meet at a party in the mid 1990s, it's love at first sight, and they spend the night in each other's arms. But Lyla's father forces them apart, even though she later learns she's pregnant. Later, an accident lands Lyla in the hospital, and though her father tells her that her baby died, the child survives and is given up for adoption. AUGUST RUSH jumps to the present and begins to follow Evan (Freddie Highmore), an 11 year old who has grown up in a boys' home. As Evan embarks on a crusade to find his parents, he imagines he can communicate with them through his gift for music. His journey to New York City brings him into contact with Wizard (Robin Williams), a man eager to capitalize on the child prodigy's talent. Wizard gives Evan the name August Rush as he begins performing all over the city, but the boy's ultimate goal is to find the parents he has never met. From FINDING NEVERLAND to CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, Highmore has displayed an almost prodigious talent himself. He's a gifted young actor, and this emotional story is the perfect venue for his acting. AUGUST RUSH isn't a film for the cynics, but even the hard-hearted in the audience will have difficulty not being touched by this sentimental film. As in Evan's life, music plays a central role in AUGUST RUSH, and it's tough not to let your heart soar along with the melodies. Though it could draw comparisons to OLIVER! and ANNIE, this is a unique and heartwarming film. [More]
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, William Sadler, Mykelti Williamson, Ronald Guttman
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Screenwriter: Nick Castle, James V. Hart
Story: Paul Castro, Nick Castle
Producer: Richard Barton Lewis
Composer: Mark Mancina
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for August Rush
Even the final few moments, which should have us choking up, seemed hurried and shot from the wrong angles.
Cloying, annoying, and absurd. And that doesn't even include Robin Williams.
A perfect example of everything wrong about Hollywood films, "August Rush" is an obstinately perverse, hammy piece of instant-gratification cinema that weeps from the screen as so much emotional sludge.
Watching this yucky emotional drama is like being sprayed with treacle from a high-pressure hose.
If you can stomach an ultra- contrived plot with a ridiculously schmaltzy finale, August Rush will be music to your ears.
A show-stopping compendium of clichés, bogus emotions, duff dialogue and cringeworthy performances. Yet it’s so naively idiotic that it’s hard to hate. Better just to ignore it.
Passionate about the importance of music, August Rush is an ambitious family film that just about keeps its head above the rising waters of gushing sentimentality.
Packing every cliché, coincidence and contrivance known to man (well, Hollywood screenwriters) into one glossy, saccharine, syrupy package takes some doing; but Highmore’s open-faced charm makes Evan’s sappy story tolerable.
Yes, August Rush is cheesy, almost embarrassingly so, but it's also irrepressibly sweet.
It doesn't really work, and looks especially messy and corny next to a beautifully simple, music-driven romance like Once.
Saying August Rush is contrived is like saying that, in terms of continents, Asia is pretty big.
That Robin Williams' character turns out to be a controlling bully is one of the picture's few surprises; everything else falls neatly into place, thanks to a script that needs about 128 coincidences to retain its forward momentum.
All this could totally happen, just like an oak tree might spurt out of the ground to start singing and dancing, the Arizona Cardinals could win the next 50 Super Bowls.
Heart-warming, life-affirming fantasy - a magical, musical adventure, geared for families
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