Rushmore (1998)

" Nah, I didn't get hurt that bad "

When i finished my first viewing of Rushmore, i distinctly remember thinking to myself "hmm not sure i liked that" and this was an opinion i kept for a while. On the face of it Rushmore isn't exactly an inviting film. It's about well off, pretentious people living in a more than comfortable situation and often complaining. It's colour pallete is dull and drab, a tone also reflected in the nature and behavior of many of it's characters. So yeah, you'll be expecting me to say "give it a miss", well i won't. Because like most things in life, first impressions aren't everything.

So after a while had past i sat down again and slowly the genius of Rushmore unravelled. Take my first point, Pretentious characters and lets apply it too our protagonist, Max Fischer. On first glance, he seems to fit the bill. However, he doesn't. His arrogance is a different type to the usual. He doesn't come from wealth. He is seen to lie about his father's profession, who is a barber but everyone max meets he tells is a brain surgeon. He has aspirations of greater things, or at least in his mind what he considers greater things. He is not academically inclined. He is not in the school on academic merit, he wrote a play. He fills his time with extra side projects such as bee keeping and play writing. He almost lucked out on it, he has skill but its not for education. He's socially inept, his misguided wooing attempts at Rosemary Cross and his ignorance of love right before his eyes in the form of Margaret Yang are proof of this. He mistakes high status with worth and that overall is his downfall and flaw in his character. Jason Schwartzman, who would of been 16 at the time of casting plays this complicated character with the precision and professionalism of a acting veteran. Creating a character who you can't help but root for. He's an underdog, a disillusioned lost soul in many ways, looking for a place to be.

Lets take Herman Blume. In many ways Blume is max 30 or so years on. This is why they form a friendship and at the same time, rivalry. This is why they fall for the same girl in rosemary cross. From blumes opening speech you know he is a man who found his wealth and status from graft and hard work. He built an empire while his personal life fell to the ground. He staked his self worth in his empire but has right too, because he made something of himself. In many ways, max has too. He has found creativity , his way of excelling, sadly he's boosting about it in a world where it holds no currency. Bill Murray's performance in this film is something to behold and started his career change in terms of the type of characters he would go on to play in films like Broken Flowers or Lost in Translation which i now can't watch without thinking they in some ways extensions of Herman Blume.

I will finish by going on the lighter side, from this review you may get the impression this movie is all doom and gloom. It's not, like such brilliant works as The Office by Ricky Gervais, what Wes knows is their is comedy in tragedy and failure. There's comedy in pain and desperation. We view these characters attempts to get on with their lives with a sympathetic eye. This movie is very funny, if you're in the right mood. However if you don't find it funny, thats fine too, because i think then you will find what it also is, a great drama. It balances sarcasm and subtle comedy, with heartbreaking drama and moments of slapstick brilliance (tree falling or Max's war epic) I urge you to watch this movie, give it a few goes too, as i took me two. However once it sunk in, it stayed. The ending is still something that can make me teary eyed. perfectly summed up his character "I wish that I knew what I know nowwhen I was younger ". However i can't help but think, if he did...would he of been so compelling ?