Here is my own thesis: after some early actual success with Bottlerocket, I think he (and perhaps Owen Wilson, who cowrote it with him, and who seem to share with him somewhat similar prep school backgrounds) was trying to proactively exorcise a particular self important “artiste” demon within himself. He filmed it on the grounds where he went to school, where he put on plays, where he himself was perhaps even hyperactive in school activities.
I think he has, or had, a little Max Fisher in him, and he wanted to put it on screen in a way he would not forget. I also think some of his best artistic ideas came from some of his worst ideas when he was a kid making films. In his satire of mediocre plays he is perhaps mocking himself, too. As he says in the commentary, he once staged a three act reenactment of the Alamo that consisted of nothing but battle scenes. He also tried to stage Star Wars in I think it was second grade, with predictable results.
Out of all his films, this is the one where I get to the end and still feel little sympathy for the main protagonist. Even in Bottlerocket you had to admire Owen Wilson’s enthusiasm, sort of. In any event, you couldn’t see him screaming at waiters thirty years hence, and throwing things at his girlfriend, and having meltdowns in public following bad reviews.
And I think most of us had crushes on older women when we were teens. I know I did. When you are a fifteen year old boy, you are not thinking clearly. But with Max, it wasn’t going to get much better, it seemed to me. He is most likely a narcissist, perhaps even a sociopath. He has a great father, but I didn’t get the sense that his father was an influence so much as someone he sometimes spent time with to make himself feel smarter.
Who knows? They were young when they wrote this. It’s definitely my least favorite Wes Anderson.