A flat fairy tale with no magic

Rating: 2/10 (27 August 2008)

"August Rush" gave us no rush. The story is filled with practical impossibilities necessary to the plot, such as the fraudulent adoption papers, or Evan/August/boy Novacek not being adopted before reaching the age of self-expression. Perhaps set as a period piece such inanities might have flown by, but even fairy tales have to ring true at some level. None of the interactions between Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers make any sense. Terrence Howard and Mikelti Williamson are wasted as mere, inconsistent plot devices. Robin Williams seems to be making a different movie than everyone else.
Look, we're not cynics; we love "Love, Actually," "About a Boy," and all of Frank Capra, but the story has to seduce you in, not knock you to your knees; has to have a level of believability that doesn't require you to swallow logs when straining at gnats.
This was a dud. And we wanted it so bad to succeed.