Good Production, Bad Script

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2007)

August Rush is about the unrequited love between an American cellist and an Irish guitar player which results in a baby boy, who is given up for adoption, and the role music plays in their lives, which eventually brings them all together. Robin Williams plays a Fagin type, who Evan, the baby boy grown up, encounters after being brought to the rundown theater where he and his gang of runaway child street musicians live. After Williams discovers Evan's intrinsic musical gift, he gives him the name August Rush to be a street performer, and the story unfolds as his talent is discovered. His plot is weaved in with the stories of his parents, both left feeling unfulfilled after their romantic encounter.
This movie was really cute, and I thought all of the acting except Johnathan Rhys Meyers', was pretty good, especially Highmore and Williams. The concept is sweet, despite being too complicated and therefore unbelievable, but you get into and have to let the details go. However, there were two things that really distracted me throughout the whole movie; Johnathan Rhys Meyers, who is English, tries too hard to put on an Irish accent, and instead it ends up sounding jumbled and all over the place. Secondly, the screenplay was severely lacking--the romantic scene between Meyers and Russel was terribly crafty, not to mention extremely corny, and it seemed as though they were already acquainted, and I didn't see them fall in love. This was a problem as Rhys Meyers spent the length of the film yearning for his long lost love. All in all, it's worth seeing, and the soundtrack is what made this film enjoyable.