Rushmore

This is the first "Wes Anderson Film", meaning the first one with all the trademark quirks and camera movements showing up noticeably. Jason Schwartzman makes his debut here as the lead, Max Fischer, a student at the prestigious Rushmore Academy. He's not from a well-off family like the rest of his classmates; his father is a barber, his mother died when he was 7, and he recieved a scholarship to attend the school when he was in second grade because he wrote a play. The school is his life and he seems to be a part of every single extra curricular activity they offer, even starting numerous ones himself, like his "Max Fischer Players", a theatre group in which he stages awesome stage versions of movies like "Serpico". Although Max is undeniably street smart in the prep school enviroment, his grades are downright below average which leads him to constantly being on the verge of expulsion. Bill Murray enters the picture as Herman Blume, a local multi-millionaire whose sons attend the school. Blume and Max share a mutual love for Rushmore, and Max's over mature personality matches up well with Blume's childlike nature.

The focus of the plot is Max's infatuation with a 1st grade teacher at Rushmore, Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). She's too old for him, but that doesn't stop him from trying to work his way into her affections. He tries to break ground on a school aquariaum without permission from the headmaster (Brian Cox) which leads to his expulsion and journey to public school. I'll try to refrain from describing the plot from now on, since with the level of detail that goes into a 90 minute Anderson movie, I could write a short novella just rehashing it.

Anyway, Jason Schwartzman has been compared to Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock in this role, but I don't really see it aside from similar haircuts and big noses. Max Fischer is more reactionary than Braddock ever was and he's always has some sort of plan or action to take to lead to his next big thing. He's is very similar to Owen Wilson's Dignan from "Bottle Rocket" in this way. The movie is split into months, from September to December and for the first two so much goes on that it's surprising that only a month has passed. When Max is expelled and put into public school, the month of November goes by in 10-15 minutes of the movies time. Max is very aware of his class status at Rushmore and tries to do anything and everything to make up for not having money. He has the kid who played Dennis the Menace in the 1993 movie (Mason Gamble) as his assistant/gofer. He uses Rushmore more as livingspace than a school. We almost never see him in class, but he's constantly accomplishing something on campus. When he's thrown out for having bad grades and for overbounding his steps once too often, the change from prep to public school is astounding. The world Wes Anderson creates with proscenium curtains opening to present scenes, Max running around in his Rushmore blue blazer, closeups of books, letters, and other writings, is contrasted with basically the real world. Max walks into a public school filled with the first minorities of the movie, still wearing his blue blazer as a security blanket, and is immediately out of place. The way he's able to adapt and combine the two worlds is remarkable and entertaining.

Bill Murray takes a liking to Max Fischer after giving a speech at Rushmore which Max enjoyed. Murray's Blume is a wealthy, intelligent man, but has an unhappy marriage and twin boys who annoy the hell out of him with their brash ways. In Max he finds a kindred spirit, a boy he wishes were his own son, but also a friend who's smart enough to have conversations with. When Max falls for Olivia Williams' Miss Cross however, Blume and Max find themselves in a love triange. Murray is subtle, understated, and very funny in "Rushmore". Only five years removed from "Groundhog Day", he looks quite aged with his grey hair and thin mustache. The way he'll offhandedly insult someone never gets old.

The soundtrack is great of course. All British Invasion songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, Kinks, and Cat Stevens. Mark Mothersbaugh scored "Bottle Rocket", but this is the first time where his music stood out as good enough to listen to without watching the movie.

As a movie its pretty good, I'm actually not sure if I'd place it over "Bottle Rocket" after watching them back to back. Having seen "Royal Tenenbaums" recently it's defintely not better than that.