Rushmore
I'm sure most of you have probably at least
heard of this by now, but it's such a great film that I feel the need to
reiterate the point.
Rushmore is the sophomore effort from director
Wes Anderson and writer Owen Wilson, whose debut film Bottle Rocket outdid
itself in quirkiness, but lacked narrative push or any truly funny segments.
However, this time around the writer/director team responsible for Bottle
Rocket seems to have struck the perfect balance between slapstick humor,
satire, and pathos. Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer, a student
at the Rushmore Boys' Academy who compensates for his abysmal grades by
engaging in a flurry of bizarre extracurricular pursuits, including staging
an obsessively realistic stage production of Serpico. He attracts
the attention of Mr. Blume (Bill Murray), a middle-aged Rushmore alumnus
and self-made millionaire who, disappointed in his airheaded wife and mongoloid
sons, takes Max under his wing and becomes his friend and mentor.
Things fall apart, however, when both Max
and Mr. Blume find themselves vying for the attentions of Miss Cross, a
gorgeous British widow whose husband was also a Rushmore student.
The usual problems ensue, with Max and Mr. Blume playing increasingly nihilistic
games with each other, but things are complicated by the fact that Miss
Cross has become a professional mourner, unable to leave her husband in
the past.
Jason Schwartzman is dead-on as Max Fischer,
who is easily the most original movie character in years. It would
have been easy for most people to have played him as either a hopeless
geek or a Ferris Buellerish adult-in-a-kid's-body, but Schwartzman takes
the role with the perfect balance of naivete and clumsiness with wit and
intelligence. And Bill Murray...how else can I put it? Bill
Murray is the Man. His performance, both deadly serious and funny
as hell, should permanently stomp out any lingering crap taste left over
from The Man Who Knew Too Little. And though this is the best script
he's had since Groundhog Day, often he doesn't even need dialogue...the
expression on Mr. Blume's face when his retarded sons lock him out of his
Mercedes is priceless. There aren't many comedians who can bring
down the house with a glare, but Bill Murray is one of them.
Of course, I have to say that the Rushmore
experience was helped by the venue, namely one of the northern expansion
theaters at the Ward Parkway 22 on opening night. The crowd looked
like it was totally made up of smart kids and movie geeks, which was wonderful;
for once, everyone in the audience caught every joke, no matter how obscure.
It's a lot easier to enjoy a movie when you aren't the only one who caught
the Barry Goldwater joke.
Rushmore
THE GOOD: The character-driven script is hilarious,
but never settles for a cheap shot. Bill Murray is unbelievably good,
as are most of the leads.
THE BAD: I don't have it on video yet. And
people keep comparing it to The Graduate, when in fact it's better.
BOTTOM LINE: Rushmore should have gotten a Best
Picture nomination, but it didn't, once again offering precise empirical
evidence of just how far the Academy has its head jammed up its arse.
MY RATING: 92