August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: November 21, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
10
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
USA TodayClaudia 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
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk 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
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
In the end, this could be the year's most sharply defined love-it-or-hate-it movie. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Unapologetically preposterous, but it is a (very sweet) fairy tale and Highmore is captivating. Read full review
60
VarietyJay 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
60
Village VoiceElla 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
50
Chicago TribuneSid 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
50
Los Angeles TimesCarina 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
50
Portland OregonianM. 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
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie 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
50
PremiereKarl Rozemeyer
For those who loved his singing in "Velvet Goldmine," Rhys-Meyers once again proves that he has pipes. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc 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
40
The New York TimesStephen 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
38
New York Daily NewsElizabeth 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
38
New York PostLou 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
38
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Odd, quasi-mystical movie that’s too silly for adults to take seriously and frankly too weird for kids. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley 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
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
You'll have to swallow this gooey confection whole or spit it out after the first couple of bites. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Simultaneously swooningly romantic and transcendently idiotic. Read full review
33
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Poetic conceits only work if they're poetic. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
30
Washington PostDesson 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
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea 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
25
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
August Rush isn't just a bad movie - it's an aggressively bad movie. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
A sickly sweet family drama. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePam Grady
An inane musical melodrama. Read full review
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