August was totally disappointing. Chalk my frustration up to another case of unrealistic expectations. I had read a few rave reviews of this film, which follows the cocky CEO of a "smoke and mirrors" Internet company for a month (August, duh) before all you-know-what breaks loose in both the economy and the world. Since I spent five years in the dot-com industry at the height of its madness, I was really looking forward to seeing how this unique period of time would be depicted in a movie. Unfortunately, from the very beginning, August screwed things up.
First off, not to get too caught up in details, but the technology market bubble began bursting in the year 2000. Yet August takes place in August 2001. By that time, Internet companies had been dropping like flies for over a year. No one was shocked when another one failed. Therefore, I think if the film had been set during the height of the go-go period, it would’ve been more realistic, not to mention fun to watch. Secondly, "Landshark," the fictional company at the center of the film, is based in New York. No disrespect to my Big Apple friends, but we all know that the heart of the web movement was in Silicon Valley. On top of that, "Land Shark" is the name of singer Jimmy Buffett’s brand of beer, so I kept thinking of that throughout the movie, which was distracting. But I digress… that’s my own issue, isn’t it?
Take away all of my gripes above, though, and the movie was still awful. It would’ve been so much better if more time was spent on the months that the company was doing well, so that we could get the sense of how things were in the office during the "good times." But instead, the movie covers four depressing weeks where the situation for Landshark is already fairly hopeless.
August ended up being more about a self-righteous, stereotypical "sales guy" (played by Josh Hartnett) and his inability to accept failure than about the larger picture of what was happening at his company and in the industry overall. For example, what does the fact that Mr. CEO can’t re-commit to his ex-girlfriend have to do with anything? The writers forgot who their audience was. If someone is watching August in the first place, they probably either worked in the dot-com sector or have an interest in it. So they don’t care to see Landshark’s CEO fighting with his parents, or being a jerk to his brother, or scheming to get a date.
If you want to watch a much better movie about the Internet bubble, seek out Startup.com. But if you still are on the fence about August, check out its trailer to help you decide. And know that there are a few bright spots in the movie, such as Adam Scott playing a hapless techie and David Bowie (yep!) as a no-holds-barred venture capitalist. Further, the climax of the story partially makes up for the slow pace of the majority of the film.
All in all, the only thing I got out of August was a reminder of how much I hated the lame buzzwords of that era. Portals. Aggregators. Bleeding-edge technologies. Make it stop!