Review of Rushmore (1998) by David H — 06 Feb 2010

I'm not really sure how I feel about Rushmore. At times I despised it and other times I thought it was genius. I think the acting was stupendous, but the story itself I didn't really enjoy. Wes Anderson's direction is spot on, but some things in the movie just seemed out of place to me. As you can see I probably need to see the movie again, but these are my thoughts on my first viewing.

Wes Anderson first came onto the seen with his movie Bottle Rocket in 1996. Like that movie, Rushmore is a quirky comedy, with a similar cast. Now over the years, we have become accustom to the usual Anderson crew. The Wilson brother's, Jason Schwartzman, and then usually a few other big name stars. Here that big name is Bill Murray.

In Rushmore, Schwartzman plays Max Fischer an overachieving...idiot. He loves participating in extra curricular activities and because of that, his grades are poor. Soon he meets Herman Blume (Murray) a father of two boys who also go to Rushmore. Blume is extremely wealthy and because of that, Fischer is drawn to him. Max also meets Rosemary Cross, a teacher at Rushmore. He is immediately attracted to her because of her intelligence and his need for a woman in his life (his mother past away). As Blume takes Schwartzman under his wing and problems arise around Ms. Cross, we begin to see Max's true self.

Each actor in this movie does a wonderful job, especially Murray. It is the first time in his career where he shows he can do dramatic acting as we've also come to see in Lost In Translation. There is one scene in the movie where Schwartzman and Murray are feuding so they start trying to ruin each others life. It is probably my favorite scene in the film just because of the way it's shot (no dialogue) and the terrific way each actor acts it out.

Of course, I did have problems with the film and they mainly lied with the story. The plot is original and all, but I felt as though the first part of the movie seemed really fresh and new, but as the film went on in turned into plot elements that we've seen before.

Still, even though I have a couple of little problems with the plot, this certainly is worth seeing. It isn't my favorite Wes Anderson film, but it certainly personifies his style of direction.