Rushmore

by Jason Morrison

Until Rushmore, it's been a real challenge being a Bill Murray fan. Not his fault, mind you, but his movies'; From quirky films like Groundhog Day and What About Bob to his "just hand me the check already" performance in Larger Than Life, he's always just been…there. Likable, but stuck in movies that would never get an Oscar nod.

But that changes in Rushmore which is by no means a Bill Murray movie, but rather a unique character comedy with an oddly romantic twist. Since every other review I've read so far took half the page before it mentioned the comedy, let me get this out of the way right up front: this movie is hilarious. Both laugh-out loud hilarious and think-about-it-later-and-appreciate-the-irony hilarious. The copy editors here are going to love that last sentence.

Jason Schwartzman stars as Max Fischer, a scholarship student at the prestigious Rushmore Academy. Rushmore is Max's life, and he has in every way shape and form tried to contribute to the school's active student life. He's president of the beekeeper's club, the yearbook, the fencing team, etc. and even writes and directs his own plays (including "Serpico"). The only problem is he's failing all his classes-and though he sees himself as essential to the school's well being, the dean, Dr. Guggenheim (Brian Cox), thinks otherwise. Max needs to decide what to do about the situation when he meets elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams) and falls in love.

With the aid of sidekick Dirk Calloway (Mason Gamble) he tries to win her heart, while at the same time developing a friendship with Herman Blume (Murray), a decidedly unhappy father of two of Max's classmates. Blume has mean children, a cold wife and millions of dollars thanks to his factory, but finds he has a lot in common with Max.

To get Ms. Cross's attention, Max stops the school from discontinuing Latin classes and even makes plans to build a new Rushmore aquarium; but when the school finds out about his plans he's kicked out of Rushmore, the only place he ever wanted to be in his life.

Meanwhile Blume and Cross have started seeing each other without Max's company and have fallen in love. Feeling betrayed, Max mounts a campaign to get back at Blume and Blume responds in kind.

Writer-Director Wes Anderson has a real knack for personality in this film-not only is Max one of the oddest characters in recent memory, he's wholly believable. His endless energies for organizing people and resources toward the oddest goals serves both as reason for most of the physical humor and dialogue as reinforcement of how intelligent and single minded this kid is. His interaction with Blume is priceless-Murray has a great trick in this film where you catch him looking surprised for one eighth of a second before he becomes part of the latest scheme. It fits in perfect with the script, which is at the same time hilariously unbelievable and creatively real.

Schwartzman plays his part so well you wonder if he isn't really Max in real life. He plays the character as so adult and so young at the same time it's a tribute to the actor and the script that they keep up with each other. Max is at times smoother than Antonio Banderas and as socially grating as Steve Urkel. His ability to be intensely interested and vulnerable endear him to Ms. Cross immediately, but his confidence and cruelty make him Dirk's idol and Blume's best friend. This sort of dichotomy may seem ludicrous, but it really follows quite essentially from the character-at heart, he is a kid trying very hard to be an adult without giving up what he has as a kid. Schwartzman has the kind of nerdy confidence necessary to make it work.

Murray is subtly hilarious as Blume, and I'm surprised he was not given an Oscar nomination. I read in an article that Murray was perplexed by the wave of critical acclaim he's received for this role, and I can see where he's coming from-he does nothing in this movie he hasn't shown himself capable of before. But here he's working with less obvious metaphors and a great cast. Murray's Blume reflects the emptiness of the kind of achievement we believe all our lives to mean success. But he's not happy until he's able to act a little childish, creatively cruel and find a kind of family more responsive than his own.

Williams lets Ms. Cross fall just a little in love with Max, and therein lies one of the keys to the movie-had she spurned Max from that start, or even played along innocently, his obsession would be meaningless. But because she's able to convey all the hopes and dreams of a 15-year-old with just the slightest smile, she makes it work. Gamble also deserves mention, making Max's younger protegee psychologically a match for Max himself.

There's more to this movie than I've spoken about, but you really have to see it for yourself. You can really get a lot out of it; it's a feel-good movie that does not fall under the category of "guilty pleasures" -fun but not stupid by any means.

Rating:

(Out of five)