Rushmore


Starring Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Brian Cox, Mason Gamble, Luke Wilson, Sara Tanaka, Seymour Cassels. Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. Directed by Wes Anderson.

Ambitious Max Fisher (Schwarzman) is attending prestigious Rushmore Academy, but is failing badly. It's not because of a lack of ability. He's just too busy with extra-curricular activities including, among others, president of the Chess Club, German Club, Astronomy Club, Backgammon Club, founder of the Dodgeball Society, captain of the Fencing Team and director of The Max Fisher Players, a group of young actors who perform full-length plays that Max began writing since the 2nd grade. The admiring but exasperated headmaster Guggenheim (Cox) informs him it's his last chance - pull up his grades or he's out.

A wealthy industrialist who made his fortune out of nothing is a major benefactor of Rushmore. Mr. Blume (Murray), with a wife only interested in her boy-toys and two brainless-jock sons who embarrass him, takes a liking to Max's ambition and humble background. Max meets and takes a liking to the new Grade 1 teacher Miss Cross. She loves fish, so to impress her (even though she's not really interested in any romantic relationship), Max sets out to create a new aquarium in the midde of the baseball diamond, which gets him tossed out of Rushmore. Attending a local public school, he takes up his extra-curricular activities as he did at Rushmore. Meanwhile, Mr. Blume and Miss Cross pursue a relationship, and Max and Mr. Blume begin a feud. And soon a bright young bookworm (Tanaka) pursues Max, despites his seeming indifference to her.

Ostensibly a coming-of-age story, Rushmore is an entirely unique, offbeat story where the hero is a nerd with great aspirations, but often unsuccessful in fulfilling them. There are no popular people, no nude babes, no big quests to score. The humour is not the sledgehammer pratfalls of Porky's or Meatballs - it is often subtle and hinging on the often surprising twists and turns in the plot. Max creates and runs many clubs and activities, but isn't particularly popular with anyone his age, save Dirk (Mason Gamble), whose Mom is happy Max is looking out for her son. Max lives in his own little world - others his age think he's a kind of a geek, but he's oblivious to reality. He tells Miss Cross he plans to go to Oxford or the Sorbonne, with Harvard as his "safety", yet he can't even pass most of his courses. And we're not totally sure if he believes this, or is just trying to impress Miss Cross. The friendship between Max and Mr. Blume is quite interesting. Blume doesn't like his family and doesn't much like himself, and seems to think of Max as a son he wishes he had because he sees some of himself in Max.

Rushmore features an excellent soundtrack with 60's tracks which complement the action in the film. It reportedly took at least a year to find someone to play Max, and director Anderson found the unproven Schwartzman at a party where he was the son of the hostess. Schwartzman is really quite good, capturing the self-absorption of youth quite well. Bill Murray, named by the New York and L.A. film critics as best supporting actor, is excellent, delivering an understated performance of a man trapped in an unhappy life struggling to find a way out. You can feel the self-loathing and unhappiness he has towards his life. The rest of the cast ably supports. The plot sometimes drags, some of the goings on are a bit far-fetched, and the ending improbable, but Rushmore is a refreshing look at the relationship between three lonely people.




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