The other day I was in the mood for a Wes Anderson film. I love his films; as a 13-year-old devotee of The Royal Tenenbaums I wanted to dress and act like Margot, being all moody and taking long baths. I drew the line at smoking and fur coats though- there’s only so far movie fandom will take me.
So I decided to watch Rushmore, the 1998 comedy starring a young Jason Shwartzman. The film follows 15-year-old Max Fischer (Schwartzman), an over-confident eccentric that has founded and/or is president of every school club. However, Max’s involvement with extracurriculars has made him the worst student academically, and puts him on thin ice for maintaining his scholarship to the private school, Rushmore Academy.
While at Rushmore, Max befriends Herman Blume (Bill Murray), an industrialist who is the father of ill-behaved boys that attend the school. Herman admires Max’s confidence, and they begin spending time together working on projects.
As for Max’s love life, he begins an infatuation with first-grade teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Ms. Cross is widowed and remains deeply in love with her late husband, but Max’s obsession grows and there’s no convincing him to leave her be. Love has struck Max Fischer and he is mighty determined for her to feel the same way.
I thoroughly enjoyed Rushmore and highly recommend Wes Anderson fans check it out.
Three memorable Max Fischer lines:
1. “My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety’s Harvard.”
2. “Look, I may not be rich, Mr. Blume. My father may only be a doctor, but we manage.”
3. “I saved Latin. What did you ever do?”
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