August Rush will not be for everyone, but it works if you surrender to its lilting and unabashedly sentimental tale of evocative music and visual poetry.
Comment
11/22/07
Rate this Movie 
August Rush (2007)
38
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
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.
Theatrical Release:Nov 21, 2007 Wide
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
Get This Movie
Reviews for August Rush
Pandering to the point of offensive.
11/22/07
Seems to want to wear its schmaltz on its breast pocket as if it were a medal of honor.
11/21/07
Far from the year's worst film, but it might be the year's biggest debacle -- it's hugely, ostentatiously bad.
11/21/07
The leaden script is full of empty romantic pronouncements that sound neither believable nor wondrous.
11/21/07
[An] odd, quasi-mystical movie that’s too silly for adults to take seriously and frankly too weird for kids.
11/21/07
Exuberantly bad and strenuously preposterous.
11/21/07
Top CriticIntended as a fuzzy family fable, August plays more to the gag reflex than to the heart.
11/21/07
Top CriticMost of the time, the material is quietly, subtly perfect.
11/21/07
If it isn't brilliant cinema, it's honest and powerful.
11/21/07
[An] inane musical melodrama.
11/21/07
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.
11/21/07
Schmaltzy and borderline insufferable.
11/21/07
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.
11/21/07
August Rush feels like the cinematic equivalent of being stuffed with fruitcake and doused with a gallon of egg nog.
11/21/07
Top CriticAlthough Williams seems to be in another film altogether, Russell and Rhys Meyers make an attractive and believable would-be couple, and Highmore may actually be the best child actor working today.
11/21/07
The fairy-tale-like family film is one slow, saccharine ride.
11/21/07
The goal is to drive mothers everywhere insane with the urge to rescue him and brush his hair (or the other way around), and in my case it worked.
11/21/07
It's hard to believe in the magical power of music to heal and connect lost souls when the tunes are lame.
11/21/07
Top CriticDirector Kirsten Sheridan has no interest in keeping August Rush tethered to reality or toning down the sentimentality.
11/21/07
Top CriticLatest News for August Rush
March 10, 2008:
RT on DVD: Call It, Friend-O -- No Country For Old Men Hits DVD
The critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men comes to DVD this week, accompanied by a litany of fellow Fresh films (Lake of Fire, Summer Palace, Dan in Real... More...
December 13, 2007:
Fifty-Nine Songs Vying for Best Song Oscar Nominations
When they sit down on January 15th to determine the Best Song nominees for this year's Oscars, voting members of the Academy's Music Branch will have plenty of tunes to choose... More...
November 28, 2007:
A fanciful fairytale blending elements of Oliver Twist, Ferris Bueller, Peter Pan and The School of Rock, and likely to entertain and enthrall preteens for a couple of hours. 
More...
November 25, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Enchanted Conjures Up $50M Thanksgiving Debut
The box office bounced back over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend as moviegoers spread their dollars across a wide variety of films which collectively helped to bring the... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade
Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.
40 Worst Films of the 2000s
Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.
10 Questions For Zac Efron
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Best Decade Ever!
Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds