Rushmore (1998)

The dazzling sophomore film from Wes Anderson is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy’s most extracurricular student—and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Bill Murray, in an award-winning performance). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization, capturing the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache.

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. – Philadelphia Inquirer

One of the freshest, richest, most original films to come out of Hollywood in a very long time. – New York Daily News