This one has nothing extraordinary about it to compensate for seven years' staleness.
Comment
12/01/08
August (2008)
36
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:9
Rotten:16
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Josh Hartnett puts in a well-intentioned performance but overall, August only superficially explores its dotcom-burst setting.
Theatrical Release:Jul 11, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Josh Hartnett (30 Days of Night) stars in this drama from XX/XY director Austin Chick. Tom Sterling (Hartnett) finds that all aspects of his life are failing at once: he can't keep a romance with... [More]
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Naomie Harris, Adam Scott, Robin Tunney
Director: Austin Chick
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Reviews for August
This middling drama has no glaring faults, but simply lacks the intended urgency. There's scant sense of surprise in a narrative trajectory that feels preordained.
01/28/08
Top CriticAugust doesn’t make a lot of sense nor does it seem to have a message or point.
01/22/08
The worthwhile attempts at creating realistic character dynamics and situations within a very specific era in New York is notable for sure.
01/24/08
There's not much to it, but Austin Chick's hyper-focused indie does serve as a nicely assured showcase for lead Josh Hartnett.
07/11/08
Rodman's potentially intriguing idea about the 2001 crash of the dot-com biz just months before 9/11 is poorly executed by helmer Chick (XX/XY), who doesn't take full advantage of his star cast, headed by Josh Hartnett, Naomie Harris and David Bowie.
07/07/08
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04/29/09
Has a dark desperation that’s morbidly compelling. But the movie’s amoral momentum is fatally slowed by an acronym-heavy script and flimsy characterizations that offer fine actors...little to play.
07/11/08
Top CriticSmartly scripted, convincingly atmospheric morality fable in which Hartnett, usually insubstantial as a good guy, plays a convincingly flawed character galloping toward the precipice.
07/14/08
Top CriticA movie that makes a good initial public offering.
10/18/08
Has a gritty, edgy look and it helps propel the audience along with Tom as he rides the edge of the dot com bust.
01/22/08
The actors are not well supported by Howard A. Rodman's self-satisfied script, which would rather tell than show, relying at several points on long, smug speeches that bring the narrative to a grinding halt.
01/30/08
This stylish, well acted drama chronicles one once-successful dot-com's efforts to stay afloat in the wake of the Internet boom's bust.
07/11/08
...the picture ... provides Josh Hartnett with one of his most interesting roles, and it elicits one of his sharpest performances.
07/14/08
Only an amusing cameo by David Bowie enlivens things, but he's onscreen for just about two minutes at the end.
07/11/08
Top CriticWhile this modest indie offers high-tension plotting, it's real substance is the contrast between Hartnett's charismatic, hard-charging business persona and his intimacy-challenged real-life relationships.
07/16/08
Merely serves to watch a company's ashes fall without really considering what started the fire.
07/10/08
August is a brooding, boring indie drama about the death of the culture-wide hallucination that was the dot-com bubble, and the moment when countless dot-com millionaires on paper became real-life paupers.
07/10/08
August seems to be missing something essential -- a prologue? Or maybe it's not what's missing that's the problem, but what's here.
07/10/08
Hartnett does windbag cockiness well, yet the overriding conception of his character and the Dot Com phenom in general is so straightforward and unrevealing that his effort goes for naught.
07/07/08
Latest News for August
August 16, 2008:
A procession of anger mismanagement protagonist episodes of rude behavior with assorted unbelievably receptive babes, and a glutton-for-punishment old flame (Naomie Harris) whom he manages to re-con into bed, before she wises up all over again. 
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July 07, 2008:
A procession of anger mismanagement protagonist episodes of rude behavior with assorted unbelievably receptive babes, and a glutton-for-punishment old flame (Naomie Harris) whom he manages to re-con into bed, before she wises up all over again.
More...
May 25, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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