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August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures


7.6

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 114 votes
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MPAA 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.)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Nick Castle James V. Hart
DIRECTED BY:	Kirsten Sheridan
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 11, 2008 Theatrical: November 21, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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.

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.

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In the end, this could be the year's most sharply defined love-it-or-hate-it movie.

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.

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.

Empire Angie Errigo

Unapologetically preposterous, but it is a (very sweet) fairy tale and Highmore is captivating.

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 . . .

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.

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.

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.

Premiere Karl Rozemeyer

For those who loved his singing in "Velvet Goldmine," Rhys-Meyers once again proves that he has pipes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Odd, quasi-mystical movie that’s too silly for adults to take seriously and frankly too weird for kids.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

You'll have to swallow this gooey confection whole or spit it out after the first couple of bites.

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.

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.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Poetic conceits only work if they're poetic.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Simultaneously swooningly romantic and transcendently idiotic.

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.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

August Rush isn't just a bad movie - it's an aggressively bad movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Pam Grady

An inane musical melodrama.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

A sickly sweet family drama.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 114 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bella L. gave it a10:
Poo hoo to the critics. This was one fantastic movie with brilliant performances by all the cast. Wow, wow, wow.

Sue O. gave it a10:
Great movie - I enjoyed it and the music connections were fantastic. Left me feeling fantastic - what more could you ask from a movie. Good on all concerned.

Sydney O. gave it an8:
i thought this movie was pretty good. the critics need to stop with these bad reviews! its only if one of the movies are complete garbage that needs a bad review. lighten up critics!

Seth B. gave it a10:
This movie is a wonderful movie that entertains and warms the heart. People tend to forget that stories are usually meant to inspire and entertain. Critics tend to be like those who can't hear the music. They judge what they cannot hear to those of us that can.

Robert C. gave it a2:
When my wife and I first saw the trailer for this film, we were so excited because it had such a moving premise, and being a passionate musician, the idea behind film immediately resonated with me. After finally getting around to watching the film, we were so horribly disappointed--a perfectly fine premise ruined by a bad writer and a bad director, who while probably had noble intentions, ended up insulting musicians world over with a barely watchable mess. Nothing hurts a film lover more than a squandered premise, because the same premise in the hands of a better writer and director could've been so much more, but now the premise has been wasted, unless maybe a remake happens someday. So why did this film disappoint so much? It boils down to the way the film treats the audience like they are a bunch of musical morons, and in doing so, the film actually insulted anyone who ever loved music and tried hard to become a good musician. If it was a film about quantum physics, where most people haven't a clue, then fine, go wild, but most households probably have at least one person who's a musician or know one intimately, so you cannot get away with writing and direction that is not even the least bit grounded in reality. I get the whole "it's like a modern fairy tale" thing--I really do, since I've written fairy tales myself as a writer, but when writing, there is such a thing as context and tone. If you depict a story that is based in the real world where supernatural occurrences are not part of the premise, then you must write a fairytale that is based on events that are categorized as coincidences that even if they border on being miraculous, they must never be impossible. If you depict a non-supernatural story about a human child that in comparison, makes every single musical genius that's ever lived look like a bunch of tone-deaf imbeciles, then it's just a steamy pile of horseshit. Instead of being awe-inspiring, the whole film becomes a giant leap over a big fucking shark (if you aren't familiar with the term "jumping the shark" just google it). But what else is new? This is typical Hollywood crap, where movies depict modern software using GUI that animates like it took a whole render farm to render, or the infamous cliché of "Can we zoom in on that and clean it up" scenes in crime dramas, where Photoshop on crack from the far future does things that should only appear in science-fiction movies, or whenever someone is operating the computer, they are always typing in non-stop streams instead of using a mouse like real humans do. I just can't for the life of me understand why filmmakers do it. Is it contempt for the audience? Is it genuine ignorance? Do we chalk it up to bad taste?

Nils S. gave it a10:
Too many cynics have bashed this movie. Everyone ultimately seeks happiness and fulfillment. Why some deny themselves that experience is beyond me, even if just for a few moments on the screen. Despite the overwhelming criticism, I found this movie to be deeply satisfying, completely enjoyable and riveting, and a source of inspiration for those who are not opposed to the idea that real "magic" is possible outside the periphery of the analytical mind--if we dare.

Zenjamin C. gave it a10:
The first thing I did after watching this movie and wiping away a tear (with the manly hunting knife I was eating a steak with) was to download the soundtrack. The second thing I did was look up its reviews on metacritic.com, because I was amazed that I had never heard of such an excellent movie before. I was even more amazed at the horrible reviews it got. This is an excellent movie... Beautiful. About fate, love, music, and beauty. Its about two exceptional musicians whome are brought together for one night by "true love" a tool which the gods of history sometimes use to craft exceptional people. Like the boy in this movie, A true musical prodigy that we have not seen for a verry long time, but which the world desperately needs. After the three musicians are seperated for 11 years, the music that connects them seems to be working to pull them back together again. I think the reason this movie got bad reviews is because some people, the type of people who are normal people that judge others, were not able to relate to this story. It is extremely improbable. Impossible for a normal person. Yet most of us are humble enough to see greatness, and not be envious of it. This is evident in disparity of the opinions of the critics, and the average Jo.

August Rush Warner Bros. Pictures

August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures