Rushmore

Rating:
Summary: Rewind and replay
Review: This is one of those movies I can watch, rewind, watch and rewind again. I can't explain why it is so compelling to me, maybe because the characters are always in character or because the scenes are so polished. The love triangle is completely inappropriate, but it gives Max the opportunity to evolve his obsessive personality.

Rating:
Summary: Rushmore is the modern day Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin
Review: Coming of age story full of nostalgic optimism and crushing awareness...

Rating:
Summary: Nothing funny happens in this movie!
Review: I'd like to respond to some of the negative reviews. I have to agree - it's too bad that there aren't any scenes of semen being eaten accidentally, of bras popping off and of hermaphrodites using chainsaws on their pubic hair in this movie. Stupid cerebral humor! It would have totally redeemed this movie for me if just one clogged toilet had exploded.

Rating:
Summary: The emperor isn't wearing any clothes
Review: This is one of those movies that people think is great because it has the ATTITUDE of greatness It has the ATTITUDE of hilarity. It has the ATTITUDE of cleverness.

Bill Murray is great, but otherwise this is just [junk].

When I saw this in the theater, I was squirming wildly in my seat for the last half-hour, dying to go home but hoping something interesting might happen. It didn't, though.

NOBODY in the theater laughed even once.

The perky soundtrack helped a little. Otherwise the unrelieved dreariness would have made me walk out.

I heard they did a huge search to find just the right nerdy kid to play the lead character, and almost didn't make the movie because they had so much trouble finding him.

How absurd. The lead role, like the movie itself, was totally empty.

This kid tries to hit on his attractive teacher again and again, but guess what? She's not interested.

A girl at school likes him but he only likes the teacher. At the end though, he suddenly decides he likes the girl after all. Bill Murray, meanwhile, pairs off with the teacher. Even the nerd's father gets a girlfriend!

That's it folks. That's all there is. Don't waste your time with this.

Rating:
Summary: We all have our Rushmore
Review: "Rushmore" centers on Max (played by Jason Schwartzman) who appears very intelligent, organized, and involved, but actually is one of the worst students in the academy. The fear of expulsion is ever hanging over his head. Still he manages to mold his reality towards his view and interpretation. Until he falls in love with a 1st grade teacher and battles for her love with a local tycoon played by Bill Murray.

Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman give us great performances, although Bill Murray sticks out due to his name. When you see him act, you expect him to be Bill Murray. In this role, he becomes the character. I can see why he was nominated for so many awards.

What is Rushmore to each of the characters? At the base, it is the elite academy at which Max is enrolled. Later, Max would mention that everyone has his Rushmore. Is this like a Waterloo, where everyone gets his comeuppance? Or, is it more like Holy Grail of sorts? All need a dream, but all need to have a firm does of reality.

If that doesn't make sense, it was intended. After watching this movie, you will ask yourself about what you just saw. I think this is a good thing and recommend seeing "Rushmore."

Rating:
Summary: Endearing and Exhilarating
Review: Jason Schwartzman's portrayal of schmoozer par-excellence Max Fischer is one of the great performances in recent comedy. You cannot separate the two, Schwartzman is so wedded to his character. Yet, his depiction does not reek of "method" disingenuousness.

Max Fischer is a precocious and ingratiating young man who is already a "professional student" by aged 15 at the tony Rushmore Academy. He's sort of a male Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon's defining role in Alexander Payne's "Election"), a consummate extracurricular overachiever and president of every club in the yearbook. Unfortunately -- unlike Tracy -- this leaves Max with little time for his studies, in which he is failing miserably. Having sailed through school since second grade (when he was awarded a full scholarship to Rushmore for writing an original stage play based on Watergate, which one can infer was a ripoff of "All the President's Men" based on Max's later featured stage production, "Serpico: An Original Play by Max Fischer"), Max now sees that his days are numbered.

This nevertheless does not impel Max to putting his nose to the grindstone; Rather, he finds more intricate ways of manipulating the school's dean and using his wiles to establish his status as an unexpendable big man on campus. However, unlike the Ferris Bueller he imagines himself to be, Max is more an adolescent Walter Mitty, kind of a loner and dreamer.

As far as he is capable of a crisis of conscience, two interlopers in Max's life suddenly change his routine at Rushmore. Self-made industrialist and Rushmore alumnus Herman Blume (played by the irrascible Bill Murray) picques Max's interest one day with a wonderfully off-the-wall "get the rich boys in your crosshairs" speech before the spoiled children of privilege who people Max's school, reaching only Max, a barber's son (whom Max has promoted to neurosurgeon in his conversations with others). When Max gushes to Blume about his enthusiasm for his speech, Blume sees an opportunity to mentor Max. Meanwhile, Max has developed a crush on a first grade teacher at Rushmore, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), which provides a few hilarious scenes as Max uses his full reserve of charm to woo the reluctant educator, who is mildly amused by Max's overconfident advances. It is at this point that "Rushmore" could devolve into a sappy ABC After School Movie like "Murder In Mew Hampshire," but director Wes Anderson instead handles the scenes farcically, in showing up Max more as Don Quixote than Don Juan.

In exchange for showing Max the ropes in the real world, Blume acts as Cyrano de Bergerac to Miss Cross, keeping tabs on her for Max, in hopes of arranging dalliances for Max and Miss Cross. Of course, like the real Cyrano, Blume falls in love (or rather, lust) with Max's Roxanne, and it is at this point that the movie really takes off.

For unbeknownst to Blume, it is Max -- and not he -- who is the mentor, and Blume who will soon be schooled, as he finds himself in an battle of wits with the prodigious saboteur. I won't give away the actual battle plan, but the scenes are both endearing and ingenious. Bill Murray really shines as Herman Blume, and is his best recent performance since sleazy bowler Ernie McCracken in "Kingpin."

Because of his lax attitude towards his studies, Max finds himself out on his ear at Rushmore anyways, and has to attend public school for the first time in his life.

Once ensconsed at Grover Cleveland H.S., Max is back to his old tricks, and uses his overachieving zeal among the apathetic students to hatch a grand scheme to finally win back (not that he ever had) Miss Cross: An extravagantly staged production of "Heaven and Hell," a script lifted mostly from "Apocalypse Now" and Oliver Stone's Vietnam-era movies. I was rolling on the floor during the staging, particularly when a couple of GIs were carrying a surfboard in front of the beachhead).

The movie ends wistfully, with the unrequited love between Max and Miss Cross still unfulfilled. By this time, Max has reluctantly given into the advances of a fellow student, Margaret Yang (played by the beautiful Sara Tanaka), who is initially rebuffed by Max as Miss Cross had previously turned down Max's romantic overtures.

"Rushmore" is a solid and offbeat movie that is a welcome detour from the hackneyed and formulaic comedies Hollywood is currently proferring. Its combination of social satire, screwball situations and sadistic slapstick places Wes Anderson in the same patheon with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Copolla, all of whose work has been adapted for the stage by the inimitable Max Fischer.

Rating:
Summary: Opinions, opinions
Review: The first thing I do when reviewing a film on [online store] is look a the lowest marked reviews and find one I really hate then write the opposite (though I do mean what I say in them). Well after looking at the people who didn't like it cos it was 'boring' or 'had no story' I thought, "Well that's just their opinion."

This film is one of three in my collection which is usually lying out of it's box next to the player. The other two are Richard Linklater's 'Dazed and Confused' and 'Before Sunrise'. They make up a trio of films which can simply be enjoyed for their sentiment when you feel down or can engage your mind when you just want to watch a bloody good film.

'Rushmore' is gently funny. I suspect many may have come to it thinking comedy, high-school, geek, American Pie. It's not. It works because of the carefully observed oddities of it's characters. The use of music is lovely as it is in his lastest, 'The Royal Tenenbaums' and in general I can see nothing wrong with the film other than I always want more.

Rating:
Summary: Take DVDead Aim On The Rich Boys: The Criterion Collection
Review: [The following is a review of the Criterion Collection DVD for "Rushmore", and not the movie proper.]

Wes Anderson, a self-described film buff and devotee of the Criterion Collection, must have jumped out of his boots when he found out the company planned a deluxe DVD edition of his second feature film, "Rushmore". But he probably didn't jump as high as I did the first time I found this DVD in my hot little hands. The features included here follow standard DVD format -- audio commentary, photo galleries, video featurettes, behind the scenes footage, etc. -- but done at an excessively high level. They do the film, one of my all-time favourites, deserved justice.

From the main menu, which features the innocent sketches of Eric Chase Anderson, Wes' brother, and snippets from Mark Mothersbaugh's renaissance-style soundtrack, you can select from amongst the Rushmore AV Club, the Audio Commentary, the Max Fischer Players Presents, and Archiva Graphica.

The Rushmore AV Club features various behind the scenes and promotional video clips. The first, "The Making of Rushmore", is ostensibly an Electronic Press Kit, filmed by Eric, intended to be longer (it runs nearly 17 minutes) and more in-depth than most EPK's. Eric shows that he's come by his Anderson genes naturally, as he proves himself to be an observant, low key, and amusing documentarian. The film is basically an annotated introduction to the crew and cast, with an oddball explanation of each person's job. Favourite moment: on his last day, Bill Murray does his interview while getting his head shaved. He convinces Eric to do the same.

The Storyboard sections, which include an option to watch the film's opening scene while Anderson's storyboards play below, are instructive and illuminating. Anderson's simple pencil sketches look like they were drawn by a 6-year old, but planned out by Alfred Hitchcock. They are at once juvenile and precise.

Next we get a complete episode of "The Charlie Rose Show". I'm a big fan of Rose, whose interview style, while often times erratic, never fails to get something interesting from his subject. And when your subjects are Bill Murray (who takes the first half hour) and Wes Anderson (who does a neat 20 minute segment to close the show), how can you go wrong? Murray is charming and thoughtful and insightful (and, duh, funny). Anderson, visible tickled that he's talking to Charlie Rose, is matter of fact about his talents and his film, while engaging Rose in a wonderful little conversation.

Finally, this section includes the film's theatrical trailer.

Next from the main menu is the option to turn on the film's audio commentary track. Shared, although unfortunately not recorded at the same time, by Wes Anderson, co-writer Owen Wilson, and star Jason Schwartzman, the track is a treat. Especially for fans of the three men.

You can tell they are all film fans. They deliver the track as if in conversation, sitting next to the listener in a darkened theatre while the film plays in front of them. They talk in stage whispers, so as not to disturb the viewing enjoyment of those around them. It's quite sophisticated that way.

Anderson knows what he wants, and knows how to get it. And he'll tell you how, if you're willing to listen. "Rushmore" seems like a serendipitous experience for him. He's grateful for all the luck he had, from the casting of Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, to figuring out that the locations, to having a vast repository of influences to draw upon at just the right moment. This is even carried through to a story about the genesis of his relationship with Owen Wilson. But Anderson is not just lucky; he's smart, and he works hard to make his own luck.

Wilson comes across as more of a spiritual guide to Anderson than anything. That's not to say that he had any less to do with the screenplay, for it's obvious that he more than pulled his weight. I mean that it's Owen's charismatic personality, his charm, and his wit that the less captivating Anderson can latch on to. And, though he tells some truly interesting anecdotes about how "Rushmore" came about, he really needn't say anything of substance. That slow, Texas drawl just gets me every time!

Schwartzman's contribution surprised me. In interviews he comes across as an unbound-Id, always ready to leap feet first into any situation and make the most of it. But here he candidly admits that, and this shouldn't have been a surprise seeing as he was a first time actor, he was scared witless about being in the film. But as he relaxed into the role, he brought a lot to it (putting the gum on the wall was his idea). And even though it was intimidating at first, he seems to have developed an honest and sincere relationship with Bill Murray, one that he treasures to this day.

The Max Fischer Players Presents section features four delightful video segments. First you get the on-camera auditions of the principle young actors: Schwartzman, Ronnie & Keith McCawley, Stephen McCole, Mason Gamble, and Sara Tanaka. McCole, especially, has a grand old time, sporting a smile on his face as he spits out his lines in a luscious Scottish brogue. The next two features show some of the artwork Max put together for his two plays-within-the-film: "Serpico" and "Heaven and Hell". Finally, The Max Fisher Players, a repertory company made up of high school students, re-enact for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards "The Truman Show", "Armageddon", and "Out of Sight". They are at once satiric and respectful and innocent. A real joy.

Finally, in Archiva Graphics, you get a motherload of ephemera, including posters, promotional pics, and close-ups of all the in-film art. The detail that Anderson is so noted for is exhibited for close examination.

Even if the film weren't currently in rotation as one of my must-watch-over-and-over movies, the Criterion Collection DVD offers so much "Rushmore"-related material that it would probably still never leave my DVD player.

Rating:
Summary: Great, maybe Wes Anderson's best
Review: I've read a few one-star reviews for this movie, and i gotta say some of them are pretty unfounded. A lot of the people who have been giving this movie one star gripe about how it wasn't as funny as a comedy should be, or they'll say something like "I must not have the artistic sensibility of the people who can appreciate this type of thing". No, that's not it either. The truth is, you're looking at this movie as if it's supposed to be a laugh fest, and you are only judging it on that. This movie is a comedy, but so is Pulp Fiction, and I wasn't cracking up that whole movie, you can't expect every comedy to be this affair like Something About Mary, which was good for that type of comedy, but Rushmore is about more than laughs. This movie is about real moments, people, family, friends, ambition, youth, aging, depression, loss etc. This movie is about life, and it is't designed to be a gut buster.

There's actually a lot of pathos under this movies skin; Max's desperation for acceptance, his distance from his father (who seems reserved to NOT get in the way of his son's decisions), Ms. Cross' pining for her late husband, Bloom's world-weary defeat. And as goofy as it can be, there is some real truth in the characters. The truth in Max's false confidence, for example. The way Anderson makes Max not just the hero of the film, but also a falwed human, one who lies, steals, and cheats, and in the end still manages to be someone we can be sympathetic with.

On The Royal Tenenbaums DVD there is an essay (that's a little on the self congratualory side to include on Wes Andersons part, but does make a few good points) that Wes Anderson is on of the few American direcors working today that specifically tries NOT to SPELL EVERYTHING OUT FOR HIS AUDIENCE. Take for example the issue of Max's dead mother, who is only mentioned in passing a total of maybe three times through the movie. You might not think much of it, but obviously this a big source of pain and loss in Max's life, and probably accounts for his need to be some sort of big-shot, as well as perhaps the cause for the rift between Max's father and Max. This movie also makes a subtle commentary about class differences, the way Max, an outsider in a boy's boarding school, projects himself around others. These are the things that you'd have to pay attention to notice, it's not just, "So the geeky kid wants to bang that teacher?".

If you went into Rushmore with an open mind, not just expecting a movie you can stare at for two hours while jokes are thrown at the screen at the expense of the rest of the movie, you might enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: A very, very, very odd comedy
Review: Every time this movie comes on tv, I just can't stop watching it. There is something oddly intriguing about this entire movie. It is one of the most subtle comedies I've ever seen, while also being one of the most original films to reach the big screen. This is easily Bill Murrays funniest movie... that's right even funnier than his role in "KingPin." His funniest scene, that always makes laugh just thinking about it, is when he walks up the woman and takes a carrot and then walks back to where he was standing. Hilarious.