Heavy-handed, undeniably saccharine, and about as magical as a clown at a kid's party, August Rush is an implausible, pus-covered pixie stick.
Comment
11/20/07
August Rush (2007)
38
%
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 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... [More]
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Reviews for August Rush
I must also confess my absolute astonishment and delight to discover that it is much better than the treacly nightmare suggested by the ads.
11/20/07
The abruptness of the picture as it leaps from character to character is unsettling, revealing that either Rush had a 30-hour rough cut or Sheridan just didn't know where to take a stand with the film's focal point.
11/20/07
August Rush is more like the cold November Rain
11/20/07
manages to stay just this side of saccharine, most of the time
11/20/07
There is a lot of talent wasted in August Rush, a would-be weeper that comes across remarkably flat.
11/20/07
Those who are willing to open their hearts to this urban fairy tale will find its pleasures, as long as they they don't think about it too hard.
11/20/07
If you appreciate a well-crafted fantasy tale that is a showcase for its young star and its great music, then you might just like August Rush.
11/20/07
Yes, it's all pretty silly. But director Kirsten Sheridan weaves a certain spell with her lush poetic montages, heart-tugging close-ups of Highmore's angelic face and mostly appealing performances.
11/20/07
For all its patently absurd situations, its occasionally cloying characters and its naked tugs at the old heartstrings, August Rush still finds a way, every so often, of dropping a lump into your throat.
11/20/07
If Charles Dickens were alive today, he might be writing projects like August Rush, the unabashedly sentimental tale of a plucky orphan lad who falls in with streetwise urchins as he seeks the family he ought to have.
11/20/07
It's an unabashed feel-good weeper, and those eager for that type of fare might as well settle for this one. But an equal number will be put off by the bad dialogue, transparent manipulation and saccharine overkill.
11/20/07
Kirsten Sheridan, who helped write her father Jim Sheridan's overcooked In America (2003), directs this awful drama, so soggy that her previous work looks positively austere.
11/20/07
With its musical themes for individual characters that come together symphonically at the climax, the music is so persuasive that it carries the narrative rather than complementing it.
11/20/07
So ridiculous and sappy that it defies the best efforts of a pretty good cast.
11/20/07
Wholesome family entertainment with a life-affirming message.
11/20/07
Director Kirsten Sheridan's new film is August Rush. But she might as well have named it Oliver! 2: Electric Boogaloo.
11/20/07
The kind of fairy tale that makes Cinderella look like kitchen-sink realism.
11/20/07
Slight, uneven and not very memorable. Just as the viewer's heart is intended to soar, mine was left lukewarm and wishing that it cared more.
11/20/07
Sheridan's magical movie blooms at the crossroads of music, melodrama, and love; leaving the theatre, you'll find yourself happily immersed in the sounds of the streets.
11/20/07
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