Hype: Rushmore is considered to be one of the better cult classic films. This movie stars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman and was directed by Wes Anderson. I have heard a lot of good things about this movie. Wes Anderson is a director who is pretty well known for his comedic style of movies. I have only seen one of his films, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and really enjoyed the style it was done. I really want to see Wes' other films and I figured Rushmore was a good place to start.
Initial Review: Rushmore stars Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer, a 15-year old high school student. Max attends Rushmore Academy, a prestigious private school. Max is known for not getting the best grades in school, but is the most active. He is president and/or founder of many of the schools extracurricular activities. The schools headmaster, Dr. Guggenheim, played by Brian Cox, is constantly feuding with Max and threatens to kick him out of school. Max meets Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray, when he gives a speech at Rushmore. Max immediately agrees with what Herman has to say and wants to become his friend.
One day Max is at the schools library and notices something written in one of the books. He immediately must know who wrote it. He finds out that the person who last checked out the book was Rosemary Cross, a first grade teacher at Rushmore. Max instantly falls for Miss Cross, but she rejects him because of the age difference. Max schemes up various activities so he, Miss Cross and Herman must hang out. This ends up backfiring on Max, because Miss Cross and Herman fall for each other. The rest of the movie focuses on Max and Herman going back and forth with various revenge tactics.
I found Rushmore to be hilarious. The things Max does in this film are amazing. Whether it's convincing the school board that Latin should be a required class just because Miss Cross says its a romance language or putting on these out of this world plays. Rushmore isn't filled with slap-stick humor, it's all original and witty. It's all in the way the characters speak and act and just flows well with the movie.
I was really impressed with Jason Schwartzman. I felt like he really played Max perfectly. You really felt like in real life Jason is Max. Jason was at his best when after his first play, he wants to take Herman and Miss Cross out to dinner. Miss Cross ends up bring a date, who happened to be played by Luke Wilson, and Max becomes extremely jealous. During this scene you really got a sense of how awkward it was for Luke and Bill's characters. Max is completely blunt about how upset and jealous he is about Luke's character being there.
The scenes with Jason and Bill were incredible, they really played well off each other. Bill was extremely believable as the crazy business owner, that when Miss Cross rejects him turns to drinking. To me Bill's comedic style has changed as he has gotten older and I prefer the way he acts in his more recent films, like Rushmore and Broken Flowers.
Rushmore went above and beyond all expectations I had for it. I heard this movie was funny, but I didn't think it was going to be this funny. I never got bored with Rushmore. None of the jokes were the same and all were very original. Not once did I feel like I've seen this in a movie before. If you like smart, original comedies that are a pleasure to watch, Rushmore is the movie for you. You will not be disappointed. Rushmore has got to be one of the best comedies I have seen in quite some time. I highly recommend everyone seeing Rushmore.
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