RUSHMORE

Finally, a smart adult comedy – biting but not gross or foul like many of today’s popular comedies. Similar in some ways to HAROLD AND MAUDE and THE GRADUATE (yet without death themes or the sexual seduction), RUSHMORE is about two May-December relationships, where a teenage man and a middle-aged man fight over one twenty-something woman at a prestigious preparatory school in New England called Rushmore Academy. Featuring a fantastic turn by newcomer Jason Schwartzman, nephew to Francis Ford Coppola, son of Talia Shire and cousin of Nicolas Cage, it also features a hilarious turn by veteran comedian Bill Murray.

RUSHMORE chronicles a year in the life of 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), a student at Rushmore Academy. Max loves his prestigious school. He is the editor of the newspaper and the yearbook, founder of the Debate Team, Dodgeball Society, president of the French Club, German Club, Chess Club, and practically everything else. He even writes and directs lavish stage plays about crime and war, complete with lavish sets, guns that fire blanks and more. (His most recent play is a takeoff on SERPICO.)

All of these extracurricular activities take Max away from his studies, which suffer greatly. Though Max aspires to Oxford (or Harvard for safety), he is one of the worst students in school. In fact, his schoolmaster Dr. Guggenheim (Brian Cox) threatens Max with expulsion. Nevertheless, encouraged by his father, Max pursues an as yet unexplored activity: chasing women. He fixes his attentions on a first-grade teacher, Rosemary Cross (played with gentle flair by Olivia Williams). Though she is in her early 20s, and a teacher at the school, Max doesn’t care about their age difference. He pursues her with the same fervor he does all his other activities, except academics.

When Rosemary tells Max that a relationship is out of the question, Max’s mentor, an unhappily married tycoon named Herman Blume (Bill Murray), starts his own pursuit of Rosemary. Herman is able to advance his desires, because Max is expelled and begins to attend the public school. Nevertheless, a war occurs between Max and his mentor, resulting in a series of infantile acts which are eventually rebuked by Rosemary and stopped. Throughout it all, forgiveness is asked of offended parties, Max befriends a younger, more suitable girlfriend, and he stages a final stage opus, Heaven and Hell, about the Vietnam war.

Co-written by the same men who wrote the odd, but original comedy, BOTTLE ROCKET (actor Owen Wilson and director Wes Andersen), this movie has some of the most original characters seen on the screen in a long time. Max Fischer is altogether smart, creative, ambitious, and flawed. He gives many of his fellow students great joy, by providing them intelligent leadership in diverse activities, but he also shirks responsibility and doesn’t see the error of romancing an older woman. He also lies to his classmates and says his father is a neurosurgeon, when, in fact, he is a barber. Furthermore, he brags to his classmates that he received sexual favors from the mother of one of his classmates, but his sin is revealed, and he seeks forgiveness for his foul deceptions. Rosemary says, “You and Herman deserve each other. You both are acting like children.” Max finally stops his pursuit, but Murray’s character remains distasteful throughout, because he leaves his wife for Rosemary.

Despite romance themes and some sexual talk by the boys in the Academy, RUSHMORE has no depicted or implied sex. Also, violence is kept to a minimum including minor scuffles and a few depictions of stage violence in Max’s plays. Nobody disrobes, but there is a brief scene of some boys sitting backstage next to photos of topless women.

Photography is top notch in RUSHMORE, as is the acting. It is difficult to believe that Max would have enough time to do all of these activities and still find romance, however. Also, although the story clips along with one funny situation after another, the second half drags a bit as it moves toward resolution. With a rock music score of pop songs from the late 60s and 70s, this movie seems to cater toward an older audience. Quirky, strange, odd, but very clever and whimsical, it has no agenda but to entertain, and its only moral message is to act your age and do your work. Jason Schwartzman is an actor to watch in the coming years.