February 25, 2007

Rushmore - $9

I watched Rushmore years ago and it was my first taste of writer/director Wes Anderson's unique style. Anderson is the writer of the brilliant and better known Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic, Rushmore pre-dates both of them.



Like all Anderson's movies Rushmore is the kind of comedy you either love or don't quite get. I fall into the former category. I recently watched Rushmore again and was reminded of why I loved it so much the first time and how it literally changed what I look for in a great comedy.

Rushmore is full of dry wit, intelligent comedy and even touching moments. Some of the comedy is set up so well by everything else in the movie that if you joined the movie part way through you'd likely not catch the subtle hilarity of a given moment.

The story revolves around 15 year old Rushmore High School student Max Fischer. Max is smart and driven but mainly to start clubs, write plays and win a grade school teachers heart. He is flunking almost all his classes. Max meets Herman Blume when Herman comes to speak in a chapel service. Herman is a Rushmore alumnus and successful businessman. Eventually Herman falls in love with the same grade school teacher Max is in love with and their friendship turns to rivalry.

A young Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer and Bill Murray plays Herman Blume and the humour and chemistry between the two is a big part of what makes this movie great.

If you've never seen Rushmore but enjoyed either of Wes Anderson's better known movies I mentioned earlier; you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

Rushmore is definitely on my 'Watch It' list and I give it a value of $9.

6 comments:

Jon Coutts said...

I keep wanting to see this. THanks for the reminder.

Any OScar reviews/thoughts?

Pan's Labyrinth sure did well. Never heard of it until you recommended it.

Tony Tanti said...

Oscars, didn't see the show but the results made sense mostly. I'm watching The Departed tonight so I'll review it this week and tell you if I think it was worthy. I'm really happy for Scorsese and Alan Arkin.

I still haven't seen The Queen and I have low expectations, I just don't get how a movie about such a boring person could be so interesting.

Pan's Labrynth deserves it's accolades, you should see it.

Jon Coutts said...

well maybe i'll see pan's sometime, but there is a long waiting list of things to see. I've got Babel waiting to be watched tonight and we're following that up appropriately with Taladega Nights this week too.

I'm happy for Scrosese and I LOVE Alan Arkin (Glengarry Glen Ross anyone?) but wouldn't have given best picture to the Departed. It is almost like they were gunslinging for the Oscar putting all those stars together. But it still was just another mobster movie and not nearly as good as the Godfathers. Little Miss Sunshine was better as a movie and even though I haven't seen it yet from what I read Babel was a much more important film.

The Queen seems sort of interesting to me, even just so I can get a better idea of what that mysterious lady is all about. (Mind you, I think you could do a biographical movie about anyone and it would be interesting)

Note: Martin Sheen is awesome in the Departed

Sheamus the... said...

Bottle Rocket is my fav
Rushmore the prettiest to watch
and
Life Aquatic the most rewarding...

* (asterisk) said...

Rushmore is a great movie. In my opinion, in the Top 50 of All Time.

Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums are good, too, but not as good.

(Incidentally, Bottle Rocket was made and released before Rushmore.)

It's a shame Anderson has now gone and ruined everything with The Life Aquatic, which was not in the same league.

PIPER said...

Rushmore was once my favorite, until I saw Royal Tennenbaums. To me Royal Tennenbaums is as close to art on film as any movie I've ever seen. It's nearly flawless.

And traditionally Life Aquatic gets the raw end, but I thought it was very good, although it is probably lower on the Wes Anderson list for me.