Rushmore
Touchstone Pictures | Release Date: December 11, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Anderson and Owen Wilson’s concise screenplay deftly avoids sentimentality but somehow manages to be touching anyway. The former’s astute direction displays an excellent knack for visual as well as verbal gags, and Robert Yeoman’s widescreen lensing is unusually beautiful and textured for a comedy. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
With its dry, throwaway humor and constant stream of chuckles, it creates its own category of stealth comedy. Read full review
100
Film.comJohn Hartl
For me, the experience was much like seeing Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" and George Lucas' "American Graffiti" before the hype machines kicked in.
100
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A work of loopy, original comic genius. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Murray, meanwhile, turns in a thrillingly knowing, unforced performance--an award-worthy high point in a career that continues, Max Fischer style, to defy the obvious at every turn. Read full review
100
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-Mayer
There’s a lot of depth to Rushmore, but lingering in those depths for too long does a disservice to how consistently funny it also is. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
One of the freshest, richest, most original films to come out of Hollywood in a very long time. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
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." Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Stylistically fresh and full of sweetness that never cloys, this is contemporary Hollywood filmmaking at its near best. Read full review
95
TNT RoughCutBrian M. Raftery
The scene-stealer here is Bill Murray, who, after 25 years of near-hits, finds his most fully realized character yet. Read full review
90
Washington PostRita Kempley
Weird, warm, monumentally entertaining comedy. Read full review
90
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
It's the funniest, saddest performance of the year in a film of uncompromising wit and heart. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
It's too smart to be maudlin. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Wickedly funny. Read full review
90
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
I can't remember a teenage romance this engagingly offbeat since "Lord Love a Duck." Read full review
90
NewsweekJeff Giles
A marvelous comedy from deep in left field -- immaculately written, unexpectedly touching and pure of heart. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Rushmore is an almost indefinable genre of its own. A comedy with a menacing edge? An ironic romance? Hard to call. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Fast, exhilarating new comedy. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Filled with brilliant, stand-out performances. Read full review
88
San Francisco ExaminerG. Allen Johnson
A weird, wonderful and funny work that stands as a true original. As if that weren't enough, director and co-writer Anderson has given Bill Murray his best role in years. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A true original: a film that stands apart from the crowd, goes its own way and all but dares you not to like it. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
One of the most original, good-hearted comedies in a long time, Rushmore is the sort of movie where the strangest sequences of discords somehow keep managing to reach giddily improbable resolutions. Read full review
80
Film.comElizabeth Weitzman
Battling back with droll seriousness, Murray imbues his sad-sack loner with a touching, funny dignity, and comes up with his best work in a very long time.
80
TimeRichard Schickel
An often deft, frequently droll little movie. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
A beautifully off-center movie. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
One of the great things about this unpredictable, exhilaratingly goofy fable is how it shows that even the clueless - and the tragically morose - have a shot at redemption. Read full review
75
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
With the astonishingly assured newcomer Jason Schwartzman to bounce off of, Murray has his best comic foil since those feisty rodents in Groundhog Day and Caddyshack. [5 February 1999, Life, p.11E]
70
Film.comPeter Brunette
One of the weirdest, hardest-to-place studio films I've seen in years.
70
TV Guide MagazineSandra Contreras
This film is the product of artists working at the peak of their powers. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Seems torn between conflicting possibilities: It's structured like a comedy, but there are undertones of darker themes, and I almost wish they'd allowed the plot to lead them into those shadows. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Rushmore is one of those films that's so inconsequential that its memory threatens to fade away before the end credits have finished rolling. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverMichael Sragow
By the end, were it not for Murray, watching Rushmore would be like reading an article on "Why adolescents need Prozac." Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
You can't have Rushmore without Max, and though Anderson obviously planned it this way, the kid is finally too off-putting to tolerate. Read full review
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