Rushmore Review
by David Sunga (zookeeper AT criticzoo DOT com)February 22nd, 1999
RUSHMORE (1998)
Rating: 2.0 stars (out of 4.0)
********************************
Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out *********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, and Bill Murray
Synopsis:
Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) loves writing plays. He is a 15-year-old boy attending a prep school called Rushmore Academy. Manipulative, Max claims his barber father is a neurosurgeon, and boasts to other students about a (fictitious) sexual episode concerning his friend, a pleasant schoolteacher named Mrs. Cross (Olivia Williams). Soon Max becomes romantically obsessed with Mrs. Cross, to the point where his antics get him expelled from school. The depressed teen he realizes he must act within normal bounds to be socially acceptable.
Opinion:
I was hoping for an offbeat and lighthearted Bill Murray comedy, but was surprised instead to find a quirky flick about an angst-ridden teenage playwright. No problem. RUSHMORE starts out with one or two main oddball characters, and that's a plus. The acting is solid, and you are immediately pulled in to try to find out what makes the characters tick. But aside from some flash moments of humor, that's as far and as fresh as RUSHMORE gets. When the novelty wears off, the rest of RUSHMORE doesn't seem to be propelled by any kind of dramatic event or realization other than that time soothes anguish but not insecurity.
Reviewed by David Sunga
February 12, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by David Sunga
This review and others like it can be found at
THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com
email: [email protected]
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
