August Rush: A Review

Warning: Contains Spoilers

August Rush is a movie for people who love music. Rumor has it that my children’s choir director enjoyed the movie so much that she went out and bought it! (It's not a rumor, actually. It was her copy that I watched on Friday.)

I agree that the soundtrack is extraordinary and I am clearly not alone in thinking so. When I went to request it at our library, I saw that I was number 17 in the queue. I am itching to give it a listen, though, and for that reason may have to purchase my own copy before then—of the soundtrack, though, not the movie. The music is just that good.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I enjoyed this movie as much as I should have—not the first time that I watched it, anyway. A little boy gets separated from his mother at birth and spends the rest of the movie looking for her. I assumed that things would go well for him and yet…I didn’t know! I didn’t relax until the credits rolled, which is often the case for a heart-on-her-sleeve sort of gal like myself.

Keri Russell is as beautiful as always and Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays one of those Irish cuties that seem all the cinematic rage these days. (Though frankly I have yet to meet an Irishman who uses “me” as an adjective the way that he does. But that's just me.)

Robin Williams costars in one of his most unnerving roles to date—a “tricky person” of epic proportions. He seems to have channeled both Bono and a Terri Shields-type stage mom to get into this character, and I spent the entire movie being thoroughly creeped out by the incredible creepiness of his role.

For that reason, and a couple of others, I would have to watch this movie a second time to truly enjoy it. It is to the credit of its direction that you don’t know if things will go well for the leading character—a little boy (Freddie Highmore) whose dimples alone are worth your time, Yet, because you don’t know you wind up…waiting. The ending, though cheesy, does not disappoint.

August Rush is a modern day fairy tale. Once you accept that—and hand over your cynicism at the door—you are in for a very good movie.

Another Warning: This movie is not for children under 13. There is too much that you’d have to explain to anyone much younger—homelessness, street violence, and one-night-stands being at the top of the list.

You decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, here is a clip of some of that amazing music that started out my discussion of this movie:




Cum gaudio et pace,