Word: blume
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...body-proud, open-minded and biology-affirmative female consciousness. Pressured to conform to impossible notions of beauty, girls are falling prey to eating disorders at tragically young ages. There are groups who object to any straightforward reference to female biology, like the school-library censors who periodically ban Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, because it deals with menstruation. In the culture that came up with Baywatch, police officers still sometimes confuse breast feeding with indecent exposure. And, willfully or not, the evolutionary psychologists keep fueling the pop wisdom that the sexes originated on separate...
...struggle to maintain his self-identity while facing "sudden death academic probation" quickly changes into his dogged pursuit of a charming first grade teacher, Ms. Cross (Olivia Williams, free from the purgatory known as The Postman). Hoping to build an aquarium to impress her, Max enlists the help of Blume, a Rushmore benefactor whose vindictive speech against rich kids wins Max's friendship early on. Unfortunately, in a rather predictable twist, Blume also falls for Ms. Cross, which sparks a petty rivalry with Max and leads to the their inflicting immature pranks on one another. However, the conflict seems...
...cohesive product. The scene in which Max puts on his play--an adaptation of the gritty Al Pacino cop drama Serpico and a hard-boiled Vietnam epic--are comically brilliant, as is the montage that reveals all of Max's activities and the clever sequence in which Max and Blume play tricks on one another. But there is too much down time between these bits of inspired comedy, and the story suffers from its overall lack of purpose. However, one can never fault originality, and in that sense Rushmore hits its mark...
...rate. Bill Murray, a truly gifted comedic actor, gets one of his best roles in years, one that it perfectly tailored to his abilities. Murray has always excelled at playing the man-child--an accomplished individual who nonetheless has rampant immaturity in his genes (think Ghostbusters)--and he plays Blume with a smart mix of wisdom and adolescence. Over the last several years, Murray has carved a nice niche for himself with meaty supporting roles (Kingpin, Wild Things), and he continues the tradition with Rushmore. Whether stuffing a little kid on a playground basketball court or running over...
What Rushmore ultimately amounts to is one exuberantly off-center film. Wes Anderson is supporting men like Max and Blume, big dreamer who thumb their nose at conformity, but he is a disciplined enough filmmaker to not glorify their behavior unlike, say, Patch Adams). The two character have their notable flaws, and Max's big schemes have a tendency to blow up in his face. In fact, by the middle of the film, it appears as if lack of discipline has cost him dearly. However , what Rushmore really needed was a good tightening of the story in order to make...