Has anyone reported on Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" yet? Well, I thought I'd put in my two cents. "Rushmore" was screened today for the press at the New York Film Festival (the public screenings are Friday and Saturday). The buzz on this film is extremely strong. It's been very well received at every festival it's been at. I thought for sure this movie won't liveup to its hype. But I was wrong. "Rushmore" is so thoroughly enjoyable and original that it's hard to believe it was actually financed by a Hollywood studio (Disney)!
Like Anderson's previous film, "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" is about a pair of lovable losers-- a 15 year-old high school student and Bill Murray, who plays a steel tycoon. Max Fischer is the name of the aforementioned high school student (He's played by a first-time actor, Jason Schwartzman). Max is a unique creation. He's the worse student at a prestigious academy for boys, yet he's very active in extracurricular activities. He's the president of various clubs, including the Beekeepers Club, the Astronomy Club, the French Club, founder of the Dodgeball Society, and director of the Max Fischer Players-- a theatre troupe. Even though he's clearly a geek, he enjoys enormous popularity, mostly because he's the most stubborn and manipulative kid that ever existed.
Max falls in love with the first grade teacher at Rushmore, and he tries every trick in the
book to try to win her over. Since the teacher is a lover of tropical fish, he decides he's going
to build her an aquarium. But for that he needs money, so he goes to Mr. Blume (Bill Murray) for a donation. Blume then becomes intertwined in Max's schemes and becomes his best friend.
Bill Murray is fantastic as a sad and lonely man who gets to live out his childhood again.
Liza Schwarzabaum, the critic for EW, recently reported on "Rushmore" at the Toronto Film Festival. She said of Bill Murray, "Somebody please give this man an award!" 'Nuff said.
The story gets complicated when Mr. Blume falls in love with the teacher. When Max finds out about it, he makes Mr. Blume pay for it in hilarious ways. Things get pretty ugly between Max and Mr. Blume, but I won't give any more away. Just seeing Bill Murray playing some really nasty pranks on someone 40 years his junior is enough of a thrill.
It may seem like I gave away the entire plot, but don't worry, there are many more suprises in this film that I didn't spoil for you.
What I love about Wes Anderson is that even though his films border on the absurd and could easily be cartoonish or something, there's always a very deep core to his characters. You feel for them. Every single one. You can say Max Fischer is a seriously maladjusted kid, but he's also a character you can identify with. The Farrelly brothers tried to do that with "There's Something About Mary." The Ben Stiller character was supposed to be a lovable loser too. But the comedy in that film is so low-brow and outrageous, that it's impossible to take any of the characters seriously. In "Rushmore," Wes Anderson achieves a perfect balance between off-the-wall humor and characters you care about. The movie also has a very nostalgic feel since Anderson based the film on his own experiences as a sub-average student.
As you probably know, the film was shot on location at Anderson's own alma mater, St. John's School in Houston, Texas. It was co-written by Anderson and "Bottle Rocket" co-star, Owen Wilson, who, I think, should also do more acting.
At the press conference after the screening, Anderson said that the release date for "Rushmore" might be moved up from early Spring '99 to December 1998. To qualify for the
Academy Awards, I guess. Bill Murray might have a shot after all. We'll see.
IGOR