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Review: 'August'

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BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

July 11, 2008

Class warfare and the fractured American dream are not the more obvious points of Howard Rodman's screenplay for "August," but they are certainly the elements that linger in the mind after the gods have had their way with the movie's protagonist, Tom Sterling (Josh Hartnett). The CEO of a startup e-company whose IPO goes straight up and pretty much straight down, Sterling is a classic of American business - the guy who produces nothing, but knows how to work a room, work the money and bluff his way to millions. His brother Joshua (Adam Scott), the brains of the outfit, has a wife, a baby and a mortgage; Tom has a series of one-night stands and a flair for overconfidence.

This should be enough to make him Bill Gates, except for the always uncontrollable vagaries of timing (see title). Hartnett, who usually becomes transparent halfway through a movie, has assumed flawed characters before (in "Resurrecting the Champ," for instance) but seldom one as both sympathetic and unlikable as Tom. It looks good on him.

(R)

PLOT In the wake of the dot-com crash, and on the eve of 9/11, Internet hotshot watches his ornate life slip into a storm drain.

CAST Josh Hartnett, Scott Adams, Naomie Harris, Rip Torn

LENGTH 1:28

PLAYING AT The Village East, Manhattan.

BOTTOM LINE Smartly scripted, convincingly atmospheric morality fable in which Hartnett, usually insubstantial as a good guy, plays a convincingly flawed character galloping toward the precipice.