Review of Rushmore (1998) by Al M — 04 Aug 2010

I have been an ardent Wes Anderson fan since this film first appeared back in the late 90s. In many ways, Rushmore is Anderson's first mature film. Bottle Rocket already featured charactres, themes, and a script that would become Anderson's trademarks, but he had yet to develop the pageant style that would fulfill his aesthetic.

I love Bottle Rocket, but Rushmore signifies the first full-fledged Anderson film because it marries its quirky characters together with an equally quirky, over-the-top, and self-conscious cinematic aesthetic.

As always, Rushmore follows the adventures of characters who are ill-equipped for life--they are in a certain sense incapable of fitting into the world and functioning at their full potential. In Rushmore, a trio of characters allow Anderson to explore the nature of identity and alienation: a teenage student at a prestiguous private school who is ambitious and intelligent but incapable of getting passing grades, a super-wealthy industrial CEO who is disastified with his life and family, and a beautiful, romantic elementary school teacher still mourning the death of her husband.

The three characters becomoe entangled in a love triangle...or, more precisely, Max (Jason Schwarzman as the teenager) and Herman (Bill Murray as the CEO) both begin damned, damaged pursuits of the teacher.

As with all Anderson films, Rushmore walks a taunt line between comedy and drama--it is a darkly hilarious film that provides constant laughs as well as poignant and powerful insights into the ways we see and define ourselves.