Rushmore as a movie is as tough to describe as its multi dimensional and multilingual main character, Max (Jason Schwartzman). Rushmore is the 2^nd funniest movie of the year behind There’s Something about Mary.

        Max Fischer is a tenth grader who the head of every club from The Rushmore Bee Keepers to The Gun Club to the Max Fischer Players, a drama club which he writes, directs, and acts in the plays. All of these extra curricular activities but he’s failing all of his classes. Max is a big dreamer, who thinks he has figured out the world and doesn’t care about his schoolwork. That’s not to say he doesn’t care about Rushmore, he loves Rushmore, it’s his inspiration. Well it is until he meets Ms. Cross, a beautiful Kindergarten teacher who Max instantly falls in love for. He is crazy for her and all that he does is for her.

        Max also sees a man speak at Church, Mr. Blume (Bill Murray), and loves his speech. Murray takes a liking to Max because his own twin sons act like dumb high school sophomores, which they are. Max is different he has spunk and ideas and Blume embraces that and befriends Max. Even with all of Max’s great ideas, he’s failing everything and is put on Sudden Death academic probation. This doesn’t stop Max from obsessing over Ms. Cross. He is relentless in all of his pursuits.

        In his endless pursuit of Ms. Cross, he gets expelled from Rushmore and goes to public school. His first day he makes a speech to the class. Through his weird ways he develops friends and makes plays. He is trying to do well in this school but then Ms. Cross tells him that he’s too young. He falls into a pit of depression and starts to work for his extremely nice father who is a barber. He goes back to school after a series of events. When he gets back to school he decides to make one final play and to include some people he knows such as Magnus, a weird looking kid with a European accent and Dirk, Max’s sidekick played very well by Mason Gamble (Dennis The Menace). This production is a very realistic war play; it is very well accepted and blows everyone away, literally.

        First thing I must say is that this movie is extremely funny. The Max character is written exquisitely and is portrayed even better by Jason Schwartzman. Max does all the things that most people only dream of. He speaks his mind, one thing many people are afraid to do, and he is punished for doing this. Even though Max gets expelled from Rushmore, it doesn’t stop him, the only thing that could stop him was a woman, and Ms. Cross did that or a while. The Max character is one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen in years. He is off beat but cool. He dresses weird. He’s his own person and he has an imagination that he does not allowed to be stopped.

        Bill Murray charter is a sick psychotic bastard, whose demeanor changes at any second. He goes from everyday nice guy to vengeful sicko in 2 seconds flat. It’s very funny, but Oscarworthy, I don’t think so. The script deserves a best original screenplay nomination for Wes Anderson, who also directed and a nod for newcomer Jason Schwartzman as the brilliant Max. Mason Gamble’s performance of Derek was outstanding. He was the perfect sidekick for Max and tending to his every command.