Rating: 
Summary: Modern masterpiece.
Review: Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" is one of my favorite comedies. At times outlandish and at other points heartfelt, it's one of the best trips I ever took to the cinema. This Criterion DVD is so good, though, because the special features, including other plays from the Max Fischer Players, added to my enjoyment of the film.Max Fischer, played by Jason Schwartzman, is the worst student at Rushmore Academy, though not because he doesn't apply himself. He is in every available club at the school, commandeers many of the extra-curricular activities, petitions to save the Latin program at the school and knows all of his teachers. But he's also failing his actual classes, has no ambitions beyond being the lord and master of Rushmore and has so much passion, in fact, that it clouds his reason. Max's passion becomes particularly troublesome when his focus turns to Miss Cross, the widowed first-grade teacher who's just joined the Rushmore staff. Her love for Latin and poetry, in addition to her incredibly refined beauty, drive Max to outrageous lengths in the name of love. He recruits a rich yet soul-defeated man, played by an Oscar-worthy Bill Murray, to fund his ultimate monument to Miss Cross, an aquarium in her late husband's honor. Only Max doesn't get anyone's approval to build the aquarium first, which leads to major disaster for him and all else involved. Max uses his heart, then his head. That's his greatest aspect and his ultimate failing. That's what makes him a compelling, funny character, one with which members of the audience can quickly identify. The screenplay, by Anderson and actor Owen Wilson, is smart and funny. Visually, the film is quirky and beautiful, in its way. The acting is stellar, even from Schwartzman in his first film. Check out the DVD's use of drawings, as well as its audition tape reel. Good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: This has got to be the best comedy of 1999.
Review: Wow. I cannot believe how incredible this movie is. Jason Schwartzman gives such a great debut as Max Fischer, an kid who's too bright to follow the rules. An activity jock at the exclusive prep school Rushmore, he's the head of, say, 40-some clubs. So many clubs, in fact, that his grades are horrible, and he's on "sudden-death probation," according to the dean, Dean Guggenheim. one day, however, Max meets Herman Blume, a depressed, and ironic steel tycoon. He hates and likes Max for the same reason: he reminds him of himself. So, he recruits Max as his own, and unfortunately, they both fall for the same girl, Rushmore's first grade teacher, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). Mayhem ensues, especially when Max meets her boyfriend (Luke Wilson) at his dinner party for his play, Serpico. Then comes a hilarious scene, along the other precious gems Rushmore has to offer. Man, there's so much good in this movie - where do I start? Bill Murray should've picked up a Best Supporting Oscar, the witty screenplay is first-class (even when the film slows up a tad, we still are enthralled), and the characters are so overdeveloped, we think we're watching a cartoon. Just do your good friend Sam a favor, and see this movie. It's an A+.
Rating:
Summary: A dear little gem of a movie
Review: A quirky little tale, the plot is suprisingly conventional but all classic Hollywood format stops there. This film essentianlly revels in character flaws and eccentricities, the polar opposite of Hollywood convention, and it is all the richer for it. It creates an oddly comfortable world of weirdness in which nurdiness is king and breaking the rules wins. It will make you beam in the most hopeful of ways. The acting is subtle and brillaintly delivered. It knows how to grab your emotions to identify with character struggle and development. It comes full circle without cheesy sentiment and inducing the need to loose your dinner. It's perfectly sweet and perculiarly potty. A REAL feel good movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated and over-long...
Review: Is this really a 93 mintue movie, as the description above states? It seemed about twice that long. Desperately in need of a qualified editor; it seemed to end at least 3 times before it actually ended. Remind why I'm supposed to care about any of these immature, obnoxious people...? I guess that explains its following ("takes one to know one", etc.)...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed.
Review: I looked forward to viewing this DVD. I had heard good reports of it. It was not engaging on any entertainment level. Viewing seemed interminable. Why continue to watch? you ask. In case at some point it might turn out to be funny or interesting. And it did have Bill Murray in it. A waste.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow characters, senseless plot, and overbearing props!
Review: What can I say, this film is a great litmus test to see if people really understand the mechanics of making a film. This most fragmented, pretentious, superficial treatment of adolescence; its witty one-liners and costume design an attempt to hide a pathetically shallow, totally unengaging film. The last shot is an embarassment, when we see all of the non-entities of the film in a "tableaux vivant." Wes Anderson should be a window dresser at Bergdorf Goodman -- he certainly has an eye for set decoration (which has nothing to do with the story and in fact detracts from the drama).
Rating:
Summary: A test of taste
Review: If you don't love this movie either you are too young or too stupid to recognize the talent of Wes Anderson.
Rating: 
Summary: Not memorable, but nevertheless enjoyable and refreshing
Review: After hearing so much from both sides of the fence about idiosyncratic director Wes Anderson, I feared that I would perhaps develop an active dislike for RUSHMORE, his second feature (and the first of his films that I have seen). I'm all for style, but not when it takes over story and characters, as some have suggested Anderson's style does. As it turns out, though...I kinda like RUSHMORE. In its own offbeat, unsentimental way---and perhaps in spite of its main character, the sometimes monstrously callow 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman)---it has a charm to it that I found engaging, even as I was wincing at some of the things these characters were doing.
RUSHMORE is basically a coming-of-age tale, in which Max learns to overcome his narcissism and grow up a little. But it is done in a way that never makes it as cloying and sentimental as other movies of its type. By the end, instead of feeling manipulated, you feel some genuine warmth in your heart at how it all turns out (even if it's not necessarily a clean resolution).
Of course, RUSHMORE is a comedy, not a pure drama, and, while I found some of its humor funny (its funniest moments come in the first half of the movie, while Max is still getting an education), overall I didn't find it very memorable as a comedy. In fact, sometimes its supposed wit seems to be a bit like Max---rather in love with itself. And Anderson has a very strange film style: RUSHMORE is perhaps one of the only widescreen (2.35:1) movies I've seen that STILL feel cramped, since a lot of his close-ups are framed with the figure squarely in the middle. That, and those close-ups seem almost oppressively close-up, often with a figure staring straight at the camera (only the old Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu has done something similar with the framing in his movies, and he often used the classic 1.33:1 frame instead of Anderson's wider canvas). When you see the movie, perhaps you'll see what I mean. It's...interesting, to say the least.
Still, for all its self-consciousness and its weirdness, RUSHMORE is an enjoyable and refreshing little coming-of-age tale, one that has heart but always remains charmingly offbeat. If nothing else, the performances---particularly Schwartzman's, maybe a little too good at bringing this occasionally bothersome character to life---make the movie work. You will probably not remember much of it when it is over, but nevertheless you'll like it while you watch it. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Perfection
Review: The life of Max Fischer is less about an individual's "coming of age" than an echo of the expulsion from the Garden and the plight to find meaning and redemption in a reality that slaps you in the face. I've never seen a more perfect film and don't expect to. I dare you to try to ever tire of its charms. There is only one way to own such treasure -- the Criterion Collection DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Oh By The Way....Bring a H*ndjob
Review: This movie is actually really kind hilarious in a very very subtle way.....really dark comedy. Jason Schwartzman's best performance...he was funny in "Slackers" but this movie just brings out his true potential as an actor...a little trivia, Schwartzman was also drummer for the band "Phantom Planet"...and if you like neo-power pop check out their album "The Guest" which is fantastic and just fun to listen to. BIll Murray also plays a great part in this film, not a film for everyone though....it's raining outside right now and it just seems like a day for a Wes Anderson film....but to me more direct a day for "Rushmore"
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