Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Roland E. Zwick In "August," Josh Hartnett plays a cocky, twenty-something entrepreneur named Tom Sterling who, for the past several years (the movie is set in the early 2000s), has been riding the dot.com wave to easy fame and fortune - though he isn't quite prepared, either financially or emotionally, for the crash that is to come. Landshark, the company he founded with his brother, Joshua (Adam Scott) and of which he is currently CEO, has a couple hundred employees on its payroll, but pretty much everyone who works there is at a loss to explain just what it is the firm does or produces. Even worse, the company that was once valued at well over three-and-a-half million dollars is now worth just a paltry fraction of that amount, the "business model" having apparently failed to pan out as expected.As written by Howard A. Rodman and directed by Austin Chick, "August" is essentially a cautionary tale set against the get-rich-quick hysteria that came to dominate in the early days of the internet, when virtually anybody with a half-baked idea and a smidgen of techno-savviness could become a high-stakes player on Wall Street. That many of these people were making their fortunes out of little more than the cyber equivalent of chewing gum and bailing wire – while producing nothing of any real substance or value in the long run – is what eventually led to disaster for so many of them and for the economy as a whole."August" does a reasonably effective job capturing the moral emptiness and emotional shallowness of the characters and the world they inhabit, but, when all is said and done, the movie lacks the dramatic heft and focus needed to turn it into a profound and major work. The minor characters are bland and insufficiently developed, and even Tom is deficient in the kind of depth and shading he would need to make him a representative "tragic hero" for our time. That being said, the movie does offer some intriguing insights into the way the business world works these days and into which type of individual typically succeeds in the new arena. And which type fails.

somuchfun I wish I had seen the comments on this movie before I wasted two hours. Thank goodness it only cost me $1 at Redbox. This time I want my buck back. It was dull, boring, and filled with vague reflections. I hope Josh lost all his acting money as producer of this bore of a movie. I waited and waited for something to happen...nada. I really didn't care what his company did...I would rather sit in a quiet room and listen to my neighbor's dog bark for two hours. I really wanted something interesting to happen and had high hopes for this movie. On other comments, I continue to see references to 9/11. I missed that completely in the movie. But that could have been when I fell asleep.This movie turned me against the Oreo cookie...now, that's powerful.

raphaeltoupin I just got done with watching this movie and I have to admit it was really pointless. 1/3 of the movie is just business lingo, the other 2/3 is just plain contemplation of Josh Hartnett's slightly above average acting...Big holes in the script. We don't know anything about the characters backgrounds, it feels like Tom is acting like an ass just for the sake of it. Very cliché character: the cocky guy who has tons of money, pisses off everybody and then realizes that there is more in life than dough. We all saw it coming right at the first party scene... Am I the only one who would have liked to know what kind of product their company made? Why is the company sinking? Sept. 11 was mentioned in other reviews, I could not find any link whatsoever...Let's face it, the whole plot was not movie material and even thought it was pretty well shot and the score is interesting I don't think any business or stocks neophytes have any reason to see it since there is absolutely no character exploration.ONE LAST THING: What was the point of putting David Bowie in the trailer, on the DVD's back picture and even write his name on the cover when he actually gets less screen time than 90% of the cast? (even the semi-goth employee gets more screen time...)

joemamaohio Dot com entrepreneur Tom (Josh Hartnett) has it all: attractive girlfriend Sarrah (Naomie Harris), his brother Josh (Adam Scott) and a very lucrative web business.All of it, however, begins to slowly unravel, and Tom does everything he can to stay above it, but his charm and charisma can only get him so far. Soon he's on the receiving end of failure - his girlfriend left him, and his business is crumbling around him.This riches to rags story would've been better if it...well...had a cohesive storyline. His business starts evaporating without really an explanation, and all the dull dialogue and weak performances only heightened the overall dull aspect of this film.