When Bill Murray was not given a Best Supporting Actor
nomination for his role in "Rushmore", one of the
biggest injustices to ever occur in the film industry happened,
and left it's mark of shame. In fact, "Rushmore"
should have been given many more awards and nominations than it
received. Why? Because it is a flawless film--the
best film of 1998 and one of the best films of all-time, a
brilliant motion picture about love, friendship, and
self-esteem. Both hilarious and touching, this film
contains zero dull moments and is covered with cynicism and wit
unlike that of any other film.
Jason Schwartzmann (Talia Shire's real life son) stars as Max
Fischer, a 16 year old attending Rushmore Academy. Though
Max is involved in every single club on campus, his grades are
terrible and he is on the verge of being removed from the
school. Max's pride and joy is the theatre department, as
he performs productions of films like "Serpico".
When a new teacher comes to town, Max falls head over heels for
her. The only problem--so does his friend Herman Blume
(Bill Murray), an enormously wealthy businessman who strikes up
a friendship with Max after meeting him at a school function.
Some of the funniest scenes involve Max and Herman trying to
outbid one another for the affections of Miss Cross (Olivia
Williams) and the tactics they use to do so. But,
underneath the sharp comedy is a very touching story of an
unusual boy trying to fit in and a man trying to come to terms
with his unhappiness. There are some very touching scenes
between Max and his father, a barber, who Max pretends is a
world renowned doctor. Jason Schwartzmann is flawless as
Max, and Bill Murray gives the best performance of his career as
Herman Blume. There is one scene where Murray jumps into
his swimming pool, only to float there, as if contemplating his
entire life in that brief moment. It is beautiful to
watch.
"Rushmore" was written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
(yeah, the crooked nosed guy) and features such witty dialogue
and cynicism, it could possibly be one of the best screenplays
of the past decade. Pitch perfect direction from Anderson
draws out miraculous performances from the entire cast, and the
ending sequence--which features a wonderful Rod Stewart song--is
timeless and touching.
This is truly one of the greatest film accomplishments of the
past few years, and maybe later on down the road, it will
receive the respect that it deserves. I don't think I read
a single negative review for this film, and it didn't even
receive half as much credit as it deserved. What's sad is
when the ones who dish out the recognition are the ones with the
absolute worst opinions on films, which was the case with this
wonderful, wonderful picture.
