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45
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88
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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64
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69
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
August Rush
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 137 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Nick Castle
James V. Hart
Directed by: Kirsten Sheridan
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 21, 2007
DVD: March 11, 2008
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some thematic elements, mild violence and language
Starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, and Robin Williams
A charismatic young Irish guitarist and a sheltered young cellist have a chance encounter one magical night above New York's Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, orphaned by circumstance. Years later, performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger who gives him the name August Rush, the child uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth. (Warner Bros.)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
Will not be for everyone, but it works if you surrender to its lilting and unabashedly sentimental tale of evocative music and visual poetry.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I'd rather August Rush went the whole way than just be lukewarm about it. Yes, some older viewers will groan, but I think up to a certain age, kids will buy it, and in imagining their response, I enjoyed my own.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The story is about musicians and how music connects people, so the movie's score and songs, created by composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer, give poetic whimsy to an implausible tale.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
In the end, this could be the year's most sharply defined love-it-or-hate-it movie.
Read Full Review >Variety Jay Weissberg
Only auds immune to diabetic rushes should head for August Rush, though tolerant parents wanting wholesome entertainment for the kids will like it for its repetitive encouragement of creativity.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
Acclimate yourself to the frenzied vibe, and you'll feel the movie grow into itself as an urban fairy tale whose rapturous finale stakes a wishful claim on the redemptive power of love and art.
Read Full Review >Empire Angie Errigo
Unapologetically preposterous, but it is a (very sweet) fairy tale and Highmore is captivating.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Feels like the cinematic equivalent of being stuffed with fruitcake and doused with a gallon of egg nog, so if that's the sort of thing you go in for around the holidays . . .
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
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.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The dialogue is dippy. And there's no real suspense: The filmmakers are so deadly earnest about the power of music and love and all that stuff, you just twiddle your thumbs waiting for the inevitable.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The plot is preposterous. Particularly the part about a kid who has never before played an instrument, but can pick up a guitar and play like Eric Clapton and belly up to a church organ and perform like Mozart.
Read Full Review >Premiere Karl Rozemeyer
For those who loved his singing in "Velvet Goldmine," Rhys-Meyers once again proves that he has pipes.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
August Rush is a rather prosaic, oddly anxious, contemporary take on Dickens' Oliver Twist, with Williams – in nasty-man twee mode, a newish one for him – thrown in for bad measure.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
To describe August Rush as a piece of shameless hokum doesn’t quite do justice to the potentially shock-inducing sugar content of this contemporary fairy tale.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
It would be nice to say this predictable fantasy has such a big heart, we can forgive its excesses. But director Kirsten Sheridan overplays nearly every already-corny scene, and there is no chemistry between Russell and Rhys Meyers, who appear to be passing through on their way to better projects.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
This is the sort of movie that requires you not only to suspend disbelief, but to check your sanity at the ticket counter.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Odd, quasi-mystical movie that’s too silly for adults to take seriously and frankly too weird for kids.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
You'll have to swallow this gooey confection whole or spit it out after the first couple of bites.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The Hollywood version of one of those fawning "60 Minutes" segments about musical prodigies. For most of it, I could hear the congested awe of Morley Safer.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Robin Williams (yes, I'm afraid so) plays a kind of Manhattan-based Fagin with a touch of Midnight Cowboy to his wardrobe. And ants will play havoc in any cynic's pants as this loopy, goopy fairy tale about a kid looking for his parents oozes to its predictable finish.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Poetic conceits only work if they're poetic.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Simultaneously swooningly romantic and transcendently idiotic.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Williams's overacting, Russell's pinched melancholy, and Highmore's unflagging chirpiness would be trying enough on their own, but the convoluted story, with its pileup of obstacles and coincidences, makes this sophomore effort by director Kirsten Sheridan (Disco Pigs) an exercise in dissonance.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Intended as a fuzzy family fable, "August" plays more to the gag reflex than to the heart, especially when our little orphan starts playing the guitar like a virtuoso after what seems like a three-minute tutorial.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
August Rush isn't just a bad movie - it's an aggressively bad movie.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 137 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
rahul d gave it a10:
Awesome music , a must watch , critics we want to enjoy a movie because we r afraid of realistic shows. So stop telling the picture is not realistic.
Briana M. gave it a10:
This movie was wonderful! It is one of the best movies I have ever seen! Throughout the movie, and mainly at the end, the powerful music gave me goosebumps. Everyone who I know who has seen this movie loves it too. Forget what the critics have to say and see this movie! I'm a musician and I can assure that almost every person who truly loves music will enjoy this movie!
Alex O gave it a2:
Overly sentimental cheesy fluff that's difficult to swallow and harder to keep down.
Ethan N gave it a2:
I gave this movie a two because I want to honor the effort of those involved in its production... but no, it's not intelligent, it's not realistic and I found it far from convincing. If you are a musician of any kind, save yourself (and your TV) the shoe-throwing impulse and avoid this movie. This is a chlidren's movie with grown-up problems.
steve s gave it a4:
I gave this movie a 4 just because the music was so enjoyable and the concept so nice. but what a mess. i so wanted to enjoy this movie which was recommended by a number of people. if it werent for the not very good acting, the suspension of disbelief required (ie. almost every minute of every scene), and the "silliness" of the whole thing, this potentially nice fairy tale couldve been closer to a masterpiece. instead, i watched it more frustrated than entertained.
Alex R gave it a10:
While the movie is unrealistic, it is certainly more realistic that most other movies. That said, that movie was fantastic, inspirational, and incredibly convincing. One of the best I've ever seen.
Cindy L. gave it a10:
This movie is one of my favorites!! My children too. It is on of those tug at your heart strings and SMILE big in the end. IT WAS ABOUT A FAMILY FINDING COMING TOGETHER!! If some people would have gotten that instead of focusing on insignificant issues.
