Review of Rushmore (1998) by Stephanie M — 24 Jun 2012

I'm a part of the 1%, and I'm not speaking in the political sense, I'm talking about the 1% of people in highschool who actually read "The Catcher in the Rye" of their own free will and actually enjoyed it, dare, loved it.

The coolest part to me about that novel was that J.D Salinger never gave rights to the story away to movie directors and studios simply because the lead character in said book, Holden Caufield, hated movies so why should he be in one? To me, that was the ultimate badass move an author could do and it really showed he could stick to his guns, but the fangirl inside of me was kind of yearning to see a director's interpretation of my favorite, angsty, young-adult and lo and behold my english teacher told me about "Rushmore".

"Rushmore" was my proper introduction to Wes Anderson films, and what a way to start, it shows Anderson just getting his bearings as a director but fully killing it along side Owen Wilson in terms of writing.

This is the real first emergence of some of his biggest tropes such as the symettrical shot choices, Bill Murray's constant starring roles, and the witty banter that leads every film he touches, and all of these aspects are utilized so well.

It's just a hilarious, off-beat, treat that screams Holden Caufield without becoming a ripoff. Max Fischer, played by a young Jason Schwartzman, is a complex character that comes off seemingly simple: Just a young highschooler who has a lust for exploring life, running clubs and committees, and a certain elementary school teacher who just moved to town.

While he tries to play it cool and seduce said teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams) he befriends the deeply depressed Herman Blume (Bill Murray) who is rich and happens to be in love with Miss Cross as well.

Soon what starts out as a friendship to build up eachother's confidence turns into a pointless competition to win the affection of a woman far too out of their league. From what I got out of it, Anderson is making a commentary about age and how neither old or young can get away from the stupidity of their ego in times of love and friendship.

It isn't meant to be negative in any means, more of a silly observance if anything, but I enjoyed how it brought out the humanity in even the most self -absorbed characters and brought them down to a level that made them relatable and even charming in a silly kind of way.

This film has won the privelage of being one in a select few films that I actually can recite line by line on command, that's how much I've seen it and enjoyed it over the past few years. I can ramble on about every scene and every character and how they bring out something new and how they connect with me, the Catcher in the Rye, and humanity in general but at the end of the day I think the viewer will see what's special about Rushmore because it's definitely a oner, just like Max Fischer.