Rating: 
Summary: requires a certain type of humor to appreciate it
Review: The owner of the video store warned us about this movie - it only appeals to a certain segment of the population, he told us. He was right. Among the audience I watched it with, half loved it and half hated it. I didn't appreciate the movie's humor because I thought it failed to develop a minimal level of empathy for the characters. As a result, I couldn't convince myself to care much as they moved from debacle to debacle. Not very entertaining in my opinion, but it seems to appeal to some, especially those that sympathize with oddball characters.
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: A Little Perspective
Review: I find the reviews of this movie to be just a little polemical, and , frankly, ridiculous. First of all, you cannot criticize other people's taste because you did or did not think this movie was funny. If you did not think it was funny, okay, but don't call everybody else snobs because they think it is. Nobody called you dumb, yet you are so quick to call other people stuck up. Sounds like insecurity to me, like maybe the movie just confused you and you feel bad, so you take it out on others. Also, people aren't stupid if they don't laugh at the film. They just have a different sense of humor. But, if you only laughed one time in the whole movie and then say, like one reviewer did, that you "knew everywhere this film was going", well, I would like to see you prove that. It sound like a cop out for not getting the film. You don't have to laugh, but again, don't criticize others who did laugh.
Secondly, just to clarify, THE HUMOR IN THIS FILM IS NOT SUBTLE. That is such a typical statement about the film, and it drives me crazy. The humor is RIGHT THERE, on the surface, and you don't have to be some brain to get it. It is simply different than the mainstream. Don't sit there and say it's subtle so you can feel better about yourself for liking it. The film's humor is very noticeable, not rocket science.
The parts of the film that are subtle are the social observations about class and what have you. In fact, the humor and unique logic of the film kind of block it from view. If you view the film as a kind of fairy tale allegory, it makes more sense.
Well, I think the film is a masterpiece, far superior to Anderson's other films, which are good, but not up to the level of this movie. It is much more than just a coming of age story, which is all anyone ever seems to say about it here. But, again, humor is subjective, and you cannot criticize people for stating a frickin' preference, for God's sake.
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.
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