Opening

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21% The Hangover Part III May 23
63% Epic May 24
97% Before Midnight May 24
88% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
83% Fill the Void May 24
17% A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

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77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
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36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
90% The East May 31
Rushmore

Rushmore (1998)

tomatometer

87

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 85
Fresh: 74 | Rotten: 11

This cult favorite is a quirky coming of age story, with fine, off-kilter performances from Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray.

78

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 4

This cult favorite is a quirky coming of age story, with fine, off-kilter performances from Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 163,084

My Rating

Movie Info

After the highly acclaimed independent film Bottle Rocket, director Wes Anderson followed up with a quirky Touchstone Studios film entitled Rushmore. Written by Anderson and friend Owen Wilson (an actor in Armageddon and Anaconda), they created the story of Max Fischer, a highly eccentric 15-year-old boy who attends the tenth grade at Rushmore Academy. Played by Jason Schwartzman (Talia Shire's son and Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), Max is a poor student with big dreams and a love of

R,

Comedy

Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson

Jun 29, 1999

Touchstone Pictures

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Cast

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All Critics (87) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (77) | Rotten (12) | DVD (26)

The director treats eccentricity with compassionate respect: no winking, no nudges to even like the boy. The filmmaking, meanwhile, is beautifully disciplined.

February 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

You also have to admire the creepy arrogance of Schwartzman's performance.

August 12, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment (1)
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What I wanted was a larger perspective, something more insightful than the one-thing-after-another existential whimsy.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Slate | Comments (10)
Slate
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A wickedly funny high school comedy for most of its running time, Rushmore is a bracingly fresh and original outing.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A peculiar, poignant comedy, with an outstanding character turn from Murray.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This film is so not-from-the-cookie-cutter, so unaccommodating of our expectations, that we can't anticipate where Anderson's going to take us. Every scene is a discovery or sly diversion.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bill Murray projects a seriocomic intensity here comparable to Charlie Chaplin's classic Little Tramp.

April 21, 2012 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Rushmore may have shades of J.D. Salinger's writing and Hal Ashby's movies, but Wes Anderson pulls humor from the trickiest of situations and always manages to surprise.

December 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com
Scene-Stealers.com

Criterion's stellar reputation for Blu-ray releases continues unabated by their phenomenal treatment of Wes Anderson's first masterpiece, a sublime comedy about death, ghosts, ambition, and hubris.

December 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Probably of more interest to adults than to teens.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Besides being a terrific film in its own right, seen today, Rushmore almost seems like a trailer for the films that have followed it.

May 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

An observation on what happens when the world of children and adults collide, perfectly embodied in Schwartzman's performance.

October 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment (1)
Film4

To paraphrase Herman Blume, Rushmore is my Rushmore.

October 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | Comment (1)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

Moments of classic slapstick rubbing elbows with moments of painful candor.

August 13, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

Another quirky, hard-to-put-your-finger-on delight from the boys who brought us Bottle Rocket.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

It's nice to see that there are still comedies out there that don't need to resort to gross-out humor for a laugh.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound
Big Picture Big Sound

Anderson is unable to frame an uninteresting shot.

June 27, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinemania

It's a better coming of age movie than anything John Hughes ever did.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

Director Wes Anderson never lets the audience in as to whether he sees this story as humorous or pathetic.

October 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies
Zertinet Movies

Audience Reviews for Rushmore

Rushmore does have a bit of aptitude in the comedy. The script, albeit painfully unrealistic, was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, who also worked as a screenwriting duo for Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums. Although Wilson's humorous style is far different when he is seen as an onscreen comic, the setup offered in the script itself is quite a hoot; starting out, we see the perfect assessment of quirk. How unfortunate that circa thirty minutes later, the characters have become a result of an obsessive toying with exaggerated personalities traits. It's mind-numbing and confusing. In slight digression, the film clocks in at 90 minutes-credits exclusive-and nearly fifteen of those minutes aren't very necessary at all. The film could have ended far better at the 75-minute mark, at which point the plot's steam is barely hissing away. The additional quarter hour is a failing attempt at trying to construct a catharsis of an epilogue. Had Max Fischer not been ruined so much, it would have been successful, but we simply don't care about his story any longer. Now the steam is chugging profusely. Only that ending I would go as far to call a waste of time; the rest, a mere pseudo-intellectual misadventure.

read it all at themoviefreakblog.com
July 9, 2011
spielberg00

Super Reviewer

This is an off-kilter, but good movie. The unique screenplay's quirky/fast-paced humor, along with Murray and Schwartzman's performance, really carries this film. Other than those two aspects, however, there is not much else to this movie.
April 19, 2012
Sanjay Rema

Super Reviewer

    1. Max Fischer: A kid got his finger blown off during rehearsals.
    – Submitted by Kia M (2 months ago)
    1. Max Fischer: Hello Magnus. I'd have shot you in the other ear, but it got blown off a long time ago.
    – Submitted by Kia M (2 months ago)
    1. Magnus Buchan: I guess you're right. The son of a "brain doctor" doesn't need to impress anybody.
    – Submitted by Tyler H (2 months ago)
    1. Max Fischer: Piranha's are a very tricky species.
    – Submitted by Tyler H (2 months ago)
    1. Rosemary Cross: Although, I will say that Edward has more spark, character, and imagination in one fingernail than Herman Blume has in his entire body.
    2. Max Fischer: One dead fingernail.
    3. Rosemary Cross: Right. One dead fingernail.
    – Submitted by Rolf J (2 months ago)
    1. Max Fischer: Rushmore was my life, now you are.
    – Submitted by Rolf J (2 months ago)

Discussion Forum

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