RUSHMORE (M).
Director: Wes Anderson
Stars:Jason Schwartzman, Olivia
Williams, Bill Murray, Brian Cox,
Seymour Cassel, Mason Gamble, Sara
Tanaka, Stephen McCole, Luke
Wilson, Connie Nielsen, Ronnie
McCawley, Keith McCawley
Running Time:98 minutes.
Writer/director Wes Anderson is an audacious talent
who possesses an unconventional and off beat
sensibility. Rushmore is the second film from
Anderson, whose low budget, slacker crime caper
Bottle Rocket was widely acclaimed but performed
poorly at the box office. In Rushmore he suffuses the
typical elements of the dysfunctional teen genre, the
coming of age tale, and adolescent school comedy
with a subversive, wickedly anarchic spirit. The result
is a refreshingly offbeat and inventive comedy that at
times becomes a little too clever for its own good.
Rushmore has an edgy, surreal quality that sets it
apart from the puerile humour of most similarly
themed comedies. The film's deliberately eccentric
style will probably hold more appeal to adult
audiences.
Fifteen year old Max Fischer (newcomer Jason
Schwartzman) is a precocious student at Rushmore,
a ritzy private school. Although quite brilliant - he can
solve complex mathematical equations quicker than
that other prodigy Will Hunting - Max is also
something of an obsessive under-achiever. His grades
have slipped because of his passion for pursuing extra
curricular activities. Max is the president and founding
member of a number of clubs at Rushmore - bee
keeping, fencing, chess. He even formed the theatrical
group that performs his offbeat plays, including a
stage adaptation of Serpico and an ambitious
Apocalypse Now-like scenario. He is put on "sudden
death academic probation," which simply means that
if he fails one more exam he's out.
Max is sort of like Ferris Bueller's evil brother - a
devious, shrewd and manipulative schemer, but
without the charm. He is a thoroughly despicable
character, and is never in danger of eliciting sympathy
from the audience. At times you want to strangle him,
or shake him.
Max's downfall begins when he falls heavily for Miss
Cross (Olivia Williams, from The Postman), the
junior grade teacher. In an effort to impress her he
attempts to build an aquarium on the edge of one of
the school's sporting fields. He approaches wealthy
businessman and former alumni Mr Blume (Bill
Murray) to fund the project. The plan backfires, and
Max is temporarily expelled from Rushmore. Blume
begins an affair with Miss Cross. The jealous Max
begin a vicious campaign of vengeance against Blume,
which escalates out of control. It is the unlikely
relationship between these two eccentric characters
that provides the film with much of its energy and
humour.
The wealth of colourful incidents and wonderfully
quirky characters suggests that Rushmore has been
partially inspired by Anderson's own experiences at
school. Rushmore has a sophisticated and decidedly
off beat sense of humour, although the laughs are not
always obvious.
The performers seem attuned to Anderson's off beat
sense of humour. In an impressive debut,
Schwartzman delivers a strong performance as the
thoroughly dislikeable Max. Murray is at his smarmy,
droll and laconic best, and delivers a wonderfully
understated performance as the emotionally damaged
Blume, who is little more than an overgrown child in
a man's body.
Anderson has an idiosyncratic visual style, which
ensures that Rushmore is quite unlike any other
coming of age tale that you've seen. The quirkiness
and originality of the scenario unfortunately doesn't
last the distance however, as Anderson eventually
settles for a rather conventional and somewhat
unsatisfying resolution.