August Rush
Encyclopedia
August Rush is a 2007 drama
film directed by Kirsten Sheridan
and written by Paul Castro
, Nick Castle
, and James V. Hart
, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis.
) is a cellist in an orchestra
under strict rule of her father (William Sadler
). Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the lead singer of "The Connelly Brothers". Lyla and Louis have a chance meeting during a party and sleep together while a man plays his harmonica down on the street. Lyla returns to her angered father and heads back to Chicago
, finding that she is now pregnant with Louis's son. Louis continues waiting for Lyla in New York
and eventually gives up. Months pass and Lyla starts 'showing'.
After an argument with her father, Lyla runs out into the street and is struck by a car. Due to the accident trauma, she gives birth prematurely and her father secretly puts her son up for adoption, allowing her to believe that the baby died as a result of the accident.
Eleven years later, Evan (Freddie Highmore
) is living in an orphanage outside the city. Evan has the ability to hear music wherever he is. He is convinced that his parents will find him. He meets Richard Jefferies (Terrence Howard
), a social worker who gives Evan his card, and Evan soon runs away to New York City
to find his family.
Louis now lives in San Francisco and has since left his band. He meets one of his former bandmates and is invited to his birthday party. Louis is hesitant because he has not spoken to his brother Marshall (Alex O'Loughlin
) since the fallout, but he ultimately chooses to go. At the party, his brother plays clips of the band performing. Louis confronts his brother, resulting in a mini-fight and his girlfriend (who was not aware he was a musician) leaves him. Lyla lives in Chicago and also gave up music, but teaches music to children privately. Her friend encourages her to rejoin the Symphony, but Lyla rejects. She is called to her father's deathbed and he admits to her that he put her child up for adoption and is somewhere in New York. Upon hearing this, Lyla abandons her father to his fate and decides to return to New York.
Evan is taken in by Wizard (Robin Williams
), a homeless musician who believes in his art. Evan tries playing the guitar and is so good that Wizard gives him his old spot in Central Park
and his guitar, which he beforehand gave to Arthur (Leon Thomas III). The old derelect theatre they are living in is raided by the police. Wizard distracts them and allows Evan (who is now called August Rush) to escape. Evan takes refuge in a church where Hope, a young girl at the church (Jamia Simone Nash
) introduces him to written notes. He picks up this skill so quickly, as well as playing the pipe organ, that she, surprised, shows him to the kind pastor (Mykelti Williamson
) who enrolls August in Juilliard School
. August immediately begins writing his symphony.
Once in New York, Lyla decides to participate in the Symphony as well as look for her lost son. Richard, who is also looking for Evan, helps her identify her child and posts a bulletin for his finding. Wizard sees the posters and destroys those he finds. Louis decides to reconnect with Lyla and flies out to Chicago to find her. He waits for several hours and when he asks one of the occupants of her apartment where Lyla is, the woman mistakes Lyla for her friend, and says she's on her honeymoon in New York. Louis decides to go to New York anyway and perform with his old band.
August's gift is considered astounding among all at Juilliard and he is even given his own performance at the same symphony that Lyla is performing in. Wizard intrudes during a rehearsal claiming to be his father, pulls August out of the school, and puts him back on the streets performing for him. August meets Louis, who is wandering through the park, and they play together. August tells him of his dilemma and Louis tells him to do what he wants to do.
It is now the day of the Symphony and Louis's comeback to singing. August is still not allowed to attend the event. August decides to leave Wizard and go anyway, with some help from Arthur, who also rebels against Wizard. August flees through the subway and towards the Symphony.
Louis is heading towards the airport when he notices Lyla's name on a banner for the Symphony. He exits his vehicle and begins running towards the park. August arrives in time to perform his rhapsody
and so does Richard (who discovers Evan and August are the same person). Lyla begins walking away from the park, but is attracted back towards the event. Louis arrives at the park and reunites with Lyla. August finishes his rhapsody and smiles at Lyla and Louis, realizing that they are his parents. Wizard is last seen playing his harmonica in the subway. The film concludes with August saying "The music is all around us, all you have to do is listen."
The final number with Lyla and Louis begins with Lyla playing the Adagio-Moderato from Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor
.
Except for "Dueling Guitars", all of August's guitar pieces were played by American guitarist-composer Kaki King. Kings hands are used in close-ups for August Rush.
Composer Mark Mancina spent over a year and a half composing the score of August Rush. "The heart of the story is how we respond and connect through music. It's about this young boy who believes that he's going to find his parents through his music. That's what drives him." The final theme of the movie was composed first. "That way I could take bits and pieces of the ending piece and relate it to the things that are happening in (August's) life. All of the themes are pieces of the puzzle, so at the end it means something because you've been subliminally hearing it throughout the film." The score was recorded at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage and the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers.
, Claudia Puig commented that "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." The Hollywood Reporter
reviewed the film positively, writing "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."
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
, 37% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 110 reviews. "Consensus: Though featuring a talented cast, August Rush cannot overcome the flimsy direction and schmaltzy plot." On Metacritic
, the film had an average score of 38 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
Olly Tman of the San Francisco Chronicle
called the film "an inane musical melodrama." Grady said "the entire story is ridiculous" and "Coincidences pile on, behavior and motivations defy logic, and the characters are so thinly drawn that most of the cast is at a loss." She adds "the ending of the movie certainly did not impress me at all it reminded me of when my father past away." they worked so hard on the rest of it but it came to a sudden end that left the movie unfinished." Edward Douglas of comingsoon.net said it "does not take long for the movie to reveal itself as an extremely contrived and predictable movie that tries too hard to tug on the heartstrings."
Roger Ebert
gave the movie three stars, calling it "a movie drenched in sentimentality, but it's supposed to be. The movie also came to a very sudden end leaving it unfinished."
Jamila Gavin
compared the film to Dickens'
Oliver Twist
and Coram Boy
.
Shawn Johnson
used August's Rhapsody during her Floor Exercise
performance during the 2008 Summer Olympics
.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
film directed by Kirsten Sheridan
Kirsten Sheridan
Kirsten Sheridan is an Irish film director and screenwriter. The director of August Rush and Disco Pigs , Sheridan was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the semi-autobiographical film In America with her father, director Jim Sheridan, and her sister, Naomi Sheridan.-Biography:Born in...
and written by Paul Castro
Paul Castro
Paul Castro is an American screenwriter. While a student at the UCLA School of Film, Television and Digital Media, he was a finalist for the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award for directing and producing his original screenplay Healing, and landed a three picture screenwriting deal worth $1...
, Nick Castle
Nick Castle
Nick Castle is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his role as Michael Myers in Halloween. He also co-wrote Escape from New York with his friend, John Carpenter.-Early life:...
, and James V. Hart
James V. Hart
James V. "Jim" Hart is an American screenwriter and author.-Career:He wrote the 2005 children's novel Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth, a prequel depicting J. M. Barrie's villain Captain Hook, the nemesis of Peter Pan, when Hook was a youngster...
, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis.
Plot
In 1995, Lyla Novacek (Keri RussellKeri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
) is a cellist in an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
under strict rule of her father (William Sadler
William Sadler (actor)
William Thomas Sadler is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption,...
). Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the lead singer of "The Connelly Brothers". Lyla and Louis have a chance meeting during a party and sleep together while a man plays his harmonica down on the street. Lyla returns to her angered father and heads back to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, finding that she is now pregnant with Louis's son. Louis continues waiting for Lyla in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and eventually gives up. Months pass and Lyla starts 'showing'.
After an argument with her father, Lyla runs out into the street and is struck by a car. Due to the accident trauma, she gives birth prematurely and her father secretly puts her son up for adoption, allowing her to believe that the baby died as a result of the accident.
Eleven years later, Evan (Freddie Highmore
Freddie Highmore
Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...
) is living in an orphanage outside the city. Evan has the ability to hear music wherever he is. He is convinced that his parents will find him. He meets Richard Jefferies (Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
), a social worker who gives Evan his card, and Evan soon runs away to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to find his family.
Louis now lives in San Francisco and has since left his band. He meets one of his former bandmates and is invited to his birthday party. Louis is hesitant because he has not spoken to his brother Marshall (Alex O'Loughlin
Alex O'Loughlin
Alex O'Loughlin is an Australian actor, currently starring in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. His best known earlier roles include Kevin Hiatt in The Shield, Mick St. John in Moonlight, Dr. Andy Yablonski in Three Rivers, and Stan in The Back-up Plan...
) since the fallout, but he ultimately chooses to go. At the party, his brother plays clips of the band performing. Louis confronts his brother, resulting in a mini-fight and his girlfriend (who was not aware he was a musician) leaves him. Lyla lives in Chicago and also gave up music, but teaches music to children privately. Her friend encourages her to rejoin the Symphony, but Lyla rejects. She is called to her father's deathbed and he admits to her that he put her child up for adoption and is somewhere in New York. Upon hearing this, Lyla abandons her father to his fate and decides to return to New York.
Evan is taken in by Wizard (Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
), a homeless musician who believes in his art. Evan tries playing the guitar and is so good that Wizard gives him his old spot in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and his guitar, which he beforehand gave to Arthur (Leon Thomas III). The old derelect theatre they are living in is raided by the police. Wizard distracts them and allows Evan (who is now called August Rush) to escape. Evan takes refuge in a church where Hope, a young girl at the church (Jamia Simone Nash
Jamia Simone Nash
Jamia Simone Nash , also known simply as Jamia, is an American child singer and actress.-Private life:Jamia was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and she is African and West Indian descent. She attended Mason Elementary School, where she participated in a talent show and first discovered her fame...
) introduces him to written notes. He picks up this skill so quickly, as well as playing the pipe organ, that she, surprised, shows him to the kind pastor (Mykelti Williamson
Mykelti Williamson
Michael T. "Mykelti" Williamson is an American actor best known for his role as Benjamin Buford Blue in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown, and recently for appearing as the head of CTU for...
) who enrolls August in Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
. August immediately begins writing his symphony.
Once in New York, Lyla decides to participate in the Symphony as well as look for her lost son. Richard, who is also looking for Evan, helps her identify her child and posts a bulletin for his finding. Wizard sees the posters and destroys those he finds. Louis decides to reconnect with Lyla and flies out to Chicago to find her. He waits for several hours and when he asks one of the occupants of her apartment where Lyla is, the woman mistakes Lyla for her friend, and says she's on her honeymoon in New York. Louis decides to go to New York anyway and perform with his old band.
August's gift is considered astounding among all at Juilliard and he is even given his own performance at the same symphony that Lyla is performing in. Wizard intrudes during a rehearsal claiming to be his father, pulls August out of the school, and puts him back on the streets performing for him. August meets Louis, who is wandering through the park, and they play together. August tells him of his dilemma and Louis tells him to do what he wants to do.
It is now the day of the Symphony and Louis's comeback to singing. August is still not allowed to attend the event. August decides to leave Wizard and go anyway, with some help from Arthur, who also rebels against Wizard. August flees through the subway and towards the Symphony.
Louis is heading towards the airport when he notices Lyla's name on a banner for the Symphony. He exits his vehicle and begins running towards the park. August arrives in time to perform his rhapsody
Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:* Rhapsody , an enthusiastic instrumental composition of indefinite form* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time...
and so does Richard (who discovers Evan and August are the same person). Lyla begins walking away from the park, but is attracted back towards the event. Louis arrives at the park and reunites with Lyla. August finishes his rhapsody and smiles at Lyla and Louis, realizing that they are his parents. Wizard is last seen playing his harmonica in the subway. The film concludes with August saying "The music is all around us, all you have to do is listen."
Cast
- Freddie HighmoreFreddie HighmoreAlfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...
as Evan Taylor / August Rush - Keri RussellKeri RussellKeri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
as Lyla Novacek - Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Louis Connelly
- Robin WilliamsRobin WilliamsRobin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
as Maxwell "Wizard" Wallace - Terrence HowardTerrence HowardTerrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
as Counselor Richard Jeffries - William SadlerWilliam Sadler (actor)William Thomas Sadler is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption,...
as Thomas Novacek - Jamia Simone NashJamia Simone NashJamia Simone Nash , also known simply as Jamia, is an American child singer and actress.-Private life:Jamia was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and she is African and West Indian descent. She attended Mason Elementary School, where she participated in a talent show and first discovered her fame...
as Hope - Mykelti WilliamsonMykelti WilliamsonMichael T. "Mykelti" Williamson is an American actor best known for his role as Benjamin Buford Blue in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown, and recently for appearing as the head of CTU for...
as Reverend James - Leon G. Thomas IIILeon G. Thomas IIILeon G. Thomas III is an American actor, singer, songwriter, musician and dancer who plays the role of Andre Harris on the Nickelodeon series Victorious.-Broadway:...
as Arthur - Alex O'LoughlinAlex O'LoughlinAlex O'Loughlin is an Australian actor, currently starring in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. His best known earlier roles include Kevin Hiatt in The Shield, Mick St. John in Moonlight, Dr. Andy Yablonski in Three Rivers, and Stan in The Back-up Plan...
as Marshall - Bonnie McKeeBonnie McKeeBonnie Leigh McKee is a North American singer-songwriter, formerly signed to Reprise Records. She released her debut album Trouble in 2004, which was a minor success. The single "Somebody" was included in the soundtrack to the 2004 comedy film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!...
as Lizzy - Timothy MitchumTimothy MitchumTimothy T. Mitchum is an American actor and singer. Mitchum performed the Beatles song "Let It Be" in the 2007 film Across the Universe, which he performed together with Carol Woods....
as Joey - Becki NewtonBecki NewtonRebecca Sara "Becki" Newton is an American actress known for her role as Amanda Tanen on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...
as Jennifer
Music
- "MoondanceMoondance (Van Morrison song)"Moondance" is a popular song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is the title song on his 1970 album Moondance.Morrison did not release the song as a single until November 1977, seven and a half years after the album was released. It reached the Billboard Hot 100, charting...
"
Written by Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Performed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers - "This Time"
Written by Chris TrapperChris TrapperChris Trapper is a musician based in Boston, Massachusetts who is most known as the lead singer of the band, The Push Stars. With The Push Stars, Trapper wrote material for four studio albums and three self-produced discs...
, Performed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers - "Bari Improv"
Written by Mark MancinaMark MancinaMark Alan Mancina is a U.S. composer, primarily for Hollywood soundtracks, such as his collaboration with Trevor Rabin on the soundtrack for Con Air. He arranged many of the songs behind Disney's The Lion King including the Broadway musical...
and Kaki KingKaki KingKaki King is an American guitarist and composer. King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows, use of multiple tunings on acoustic and lap steel guitar, and her diverse range in different genres.In February 2006, Rolling Stone released a list of "The New Guitar...
, Performed by Kaki King - "Ritual Dance"
Written by Michael HedgesMichael HedgesMichael Alden Hedges was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Background:...
, Performed by Kaki King - "Raise It UpRaise It Up (August Rush song)"Raise It Up" is a 2007 song written by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas for the motion picture August Rush. "Raise It Up" is performed in the film by Jamia Simone Nash and Impact Repertory Theatre, an African-American youth theatre group based in Harlem...
"
Written by Impact Repertory Theatre, Performed by Jamia Simone NashJamia Simone NashJamia Simone Nash , also known simply as Jamia, is an American child singer and actress.-Private life:Jamia was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and she is African and West Indian descent. She attended Mason Elementary School, where she participated in a talent show and first discovered her fame...
and Impact Repertory Theatre
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original SongAcademy Award for Best Original SongThe Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film... - "Dueling Guitars"
Written by Heitor PereiraHeitor PereiraHeitor Teixeira Pereira , or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian musician, who played with Simply Red and several famous musicians, like Elton John, Rod Stewart, k.d...
, Performed by Heitor Pereira and Doug Smith - "Someday"
Written and Performed by John LegendJohn LegendJohn Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career... - "August's Rhapsody"
The final number with Lyla and Louis begins with Lyla playing the Adagio-Moderato from Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
.
Except for "Dueling Guitars", all of August's guitar pieces were played by American guitarist-composer Kaki King. Kings hands are used in close-ups for August Rush.
Composer Mark Mancina spent over a year and a half composing the score of August Rush. "The heart of the story is how we respond and connect through music. It's about this young boy who believes that he's going to find his parents through his music. That's what drives him." The final theme of the movie was composed first. "That way I could take bits and pieces of the ending piece and relate it to the things that are happening in (August's) life. All of the themes are pieces of the puzzle, so at the end it means something because you've been subliminally hearing it throughout the film." The score was recorded at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage and the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers.
Reception
In a review by USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Claudia Puig commented that "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." The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
reviewed the film positively, writing "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."
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 37% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 110 reviews. "Consensus: Though featuring a talented cast, August Rush cannot overcome the flimsy direction and schmaltzy plot." On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film had an average score of 38 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
Olly Tman of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
called the film "an inane musical melodrama." Grady said "the entire story is ridiculous" and "Coincidences pile on, behavior and motivations defy logic, and the characters are so thinly drawn that most of the cast is at a loss." She adds "the ending of the movie certainly did not impress me at all it reminded me of when my father past away." they worked so hard on the rest of it but it came to a sudden end that left the movie unfinished." Edward Douglas of comingsoon.net said it "does not take long for the movie to reveal itself as an extremely contrived and predictable movie that tries too hard to tug on the heartstrings."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the movie three stars, calling it "a movie drenched in sentimentality, but it's supposed to be. The movie also came to a very sudden end leaving it unfinished."
Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin is a British writer born in Mussoorie, India in the foothills of the Himalayas.Her father was Indian and her mother English...
compared the film to Dickens'
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
and Coram Boy
Coram Boy
Coram Boy is a very successful children's novel by Jamila Gavin. Published in 2000, it won Gavin a Whitbread Children's Book Award. The story follows a wide range of characters, from the rich Alexander Ashbrook to Toby, a young boy saved from an African slave ship, as their lives become closely...
.
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Machel Johnson is an American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and all-around, and floor exercise silver medalist, the 2007 all-around World Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. all-around champion...
used August's Rhapsody during her Floor Exercise
Floor (gymnastics)
In gymnastics, the floor refers to a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The event in gymnastics performed on floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is FX.A spring...
performance during the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
.