I don't want to get involved in a fight over Rogaine, but I will share my experiences with it, because it has successfully grown hair on my hairline and temples.
The problem is the hair wouldn't grow longer than approx. an inch. It grew a big cluster of these inch long hairs at my hairline, so much that the girl who cuts my hair asked "why do you have so much breakage at the front of your hairline, do you blow dry your hair on a really hot setting?" At that point I asked her to shave my head to a #2 and now all those little hairs blend into my hairline quite nicely. Your mileage may vary.
At the same time, I do hate the stuff though, I hate applying it, the greasiness of it, fighting the itchy dandruffy scalp it causes, the stains on the pillow case(my wife really hates that)etc. etc.