August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures, 100mins, PG

Directed by
Kirsten Sheridan

The hero's journey® is something that is as old as time. It's one of the seven basic plots, and like the other six, which I can't remember right now, it can be the skeleton of either great or lousy tales. This is one of the latter.

The reason is that the damn thing is too obvious, to faux mystical and too saccharin. This harkens back to a time when the gods ruled supreme and the characters were just puppets in their hands. This is the case here, for Even(Freddie Highmore) has a destiny, and while what that is, is never exactly spelled out, it has to do with music and the reunion of his parents, and it has take place in a certain way. Nothing can change this.

In order to do this, Even has to become Oliver Twist. Escaping from an unfeeling orphanage, where his musical prophetical gifts are laughed at, he goes to New York, and while he's traveling, the film flashes back to the mystery of his birth, where Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell), a sheltered young cellist has a one night stand with Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a charismatic young Irish rocker, who impregnates her and promises to a future of happiness ever after. Unfortunately, her father(William Sadler), has other ideas, and when the pregnancy is about to come to term, she gets hit by a car and he uses this opportunity to give the baby away. Lyla and Louis lose their talent and go on to other things.

In the most melodramatic way possible, Lyla discovers that Even is in fact alive, Louis finds out that Lyla is alive, and Even comes into contact with Wizard (Robin Williams), a mysterious stranger who runs a gang of musical hooligans in what was once the Fillmore East Theater. This is Williams' best role in years. He makes a great mentor/villain, who teaches Even, who he renames August Rush, the basics and then begins to exploit the tyke.

The film at this point becomes completely predictable, for the gods have decreed a certain ending and no amount of wishing for something interesting can change this. Improbability mounts upon improbability [Juliard? The New York Philharmonic in only six months?] before…yeah, you guessed it. Happy ending.

If it weren't for the wonderful soundtrack, Nick Castle and James Hart's screenplay wouldn't have made it past the slush pile. The miracle is that it didn't, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.


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