Sarah Ward Concrete Playground Oct 16, 2025

Deploys both Schwartzman and Murray to perfection, while weaving a smart yet also often dark comedy about learning to adjust your dreams.

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Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight Oct 4, 2023 3/4

Rushmore” is an interesting movie that will appeal to a very small audience, but will nonetheless impress.

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Aug 12, 2023 2.5/4

...a consistently watchable yet thoroughly erratic endeavor that fares best in its briskly-paced and tremendously entertaining first half...

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Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Aug 25, 2022 4.5/5

...an infectious comedy from start to finish.

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Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com Apr 24, 2022 FOUR STARS

Precocious but not precious, "Rushmore" is heavy-hearted comedy with a light touch.

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Sophie Charara NME (New Musical Express) Apr 28, 2021

The script is so charming and quippy that it's not hard to see why this is still many fans' favourite...

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David Walsh World Socialist Web Site Feb 16, 2021

Anderson and Wilson, who attended the University of Texas together, have made a film with something very human and charming about it.

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Anthony Lane The New Yorker Mar 17, 2014

Schwartzman is cautious but stubbornly optimistic, while Murray is possessed by the mania of near-despair... They make the best and most disconcerting odd couple that American movies have produced in a long while.

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Desson Thomson Washington Post Mar 17, 2014

Rushmore is an almost indefinable genre of its own. A comedy with a menacing edge? An ironic romance? Hard to call. Anderson, the director and co-writer, and Wilson, co-writer, have a vision like no one else's.

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Jonathan Foreman New York Post Mar 17, 2014

A quirky, sometimes hilarious and often touching comic fable.

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John Hartl Seattle Times Mar 17, 2014 4/4

There's an unshakable confidence about this coming-of-age fable that matches that of its central character, Max Fischer.

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Andrew Pulver Guardian Mar 17, 2014 4/5

Rushmore offers more than simply a series of high-grade yuks; it's a finely-judged parable on the line between self-delusion and reality.

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Jay Boyar Orlando Sentinel Mar 17, 2014

If happiness is finding something you love to do and doing it forever, one of my somethings might just be watching this oddly uproarious little flick.

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David Sterritt Christian Science Monitor Mar 17, 2014 4/4

Anderson fulfills the promise of his inventive Bottle Rocket with this quirky, often hilarious comedy, and Murray gives his most uproarious performance since the groundbreaking Groundhog Day.

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Ann Hornaday Baltimore Sun Mar 17, 2014 4/4

Despite cute moments, nothing about Rushmore begs to be liked, which makes this modest comedy all the more satisfying.

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Leah Rozen People Magazine Mar 17, 2014

A gloriously inventive little comedy about the scholastic and romantic woes of a 15-year-old student at a private academy.

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Dan Webster Spokesman-Review (Washington) Mar 17, 2014 3/4

Just when you expect the film to do something normal, it takes off like Murray -- riffing on reality as only he, and filmmaker Anderson, can.

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Serena Donadoni Metro Times (Detroit, MI) Mar 17, 2014 4.5/5

It's somehow fitting that in this Maxcentric universe, Rushmore exists as a satirical comedy, full of dry wit and adolescent absurdities, and a bittersweet valentine to manipulative misfits who actually find the love they deserve.

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Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer Mar 17, 2014 4/4

There's a danger of overselling Anderson's sweet-hearted, loony little fantasy, but everything -- from the soundtrack of '60s Brit bands with their jangly anthems of angsty love to Robert Yeoman's slightly hyper-real photography -- fits perfectly.

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Rita Kempley Washington Post Mar 17, 2014

An inspired second feature from director Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson, the picture shares the offbeat rhythms and disarming humor of their overlooked debut, Bottle Rocket.

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