Rushmore (1999)

Just as there would be no grunge without Nirvana or no Radiohead without The Pixies, there wouldn’t have been Juno or Little Miss Sunshine without Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.

Max Fischer, the protagonist of Rushmore, represents the awkward, offbeat socialite of a generation without the mathematical skills to pass geometry. The boy may not be able to comprehend the basics of triangulation but he easily captures the hearts of those close to him with a sort of brilliance that only comes with being the Editor in Chief of the yearbook, the Rushmore Yankee; Publisher of The Yankee Review; French Club President; Russia, in the Model United Nations; Vice President of the Stamp and Coin Club; Captain of the Debate Team; Manager of the Lacrosse Team; Calligraphy Club President; Astronomy Society Founder; Fencing Team Captain; Track and Field, J.V. decathlon athlete; 2nd Choral Choirmaster; Bombardment Society Founder; Kung Fu Club Yellow Belt; Trap and Skeet Club Founder; Director of the Max Fischer Players; a flyer in the Piper Cub Club (with 4.5 hours logged); Backgammon Club Founder; and a Wrestling Team alternate.

He befriends a steel tycoon named Edward Blume, played by Bill Murray, after hearing him speak about his love for the school. Fischer is placed on academic probation due to his poor grades, a fact that his principal blames on his expansive extra-curricular activities and not enough time studying. Max explains to his principal, Dr. Guggenheim (Brian Cox), his predicament: “I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but the fact is no matter how hard I try, I still might flunk another class. Even if that means I have to stay on for a postgraduate year, then so be it.” Guggenheim informs him that Rushmore doesn’t offer a postgraduate year, and Fischer retorts in a way only he can. “Well…you don’t offer it yet.”

Up to this point, Fischer is presented to the audience as a comical character whose unlimited potential is hindered by his inability to focus on one thing. His language and efforts are beyond his years, using politics and leverage to weasel his way out of expulsion or into the graces of his associate’s mother in search of the ever-elusive handjob.

It is with the naivety of his youth that the main conflict arises. Max encounters a problem that even he cannot rationalize. While reading a book in Rushmore’s library during the Backgammon Club, he finds a quote by Jacques Cousteau written in the margin. The boy is so confounded by the quote that he has to find out who wrote it. After a bit of sleuthing, Max discovers the book was recently checked out by a first-grade teacher named Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). nAfter visiting her classroom and having a brief conversation, he falls instantly in love. In a schoolboy attempt to win her affections, Max runs a campaign for a school aquarium and to have the cancellation of Latin overturned (even though he had before campaigned to cancel the class, deeming it “a dead language.”) He convinces Blume to contribute to his project, but then Blume goes and falls for the lovely Miss Cross.

Rushmore is directed by Wes Anderson, and co-written with muse Owen Wilson who he worked with in Bottle Rocket and later in The Royal Tenenbaums and Darjeeling Limited. The scenes are bright and bold, reminiscent of crayons, and the dialog is simple yet thoughtful. There’s never been a film where the word “handjob” was so refined.

Rushmore feels so genuine and heartfelt that it’s almost impossible not to fall in love on some level with Max. Even in his deluded attempts at wooing Ms. Cross or his cruel rivalry with Blume, causing his friend’s divorce, I empathized with his struggle and quietly cheered the boy wearing the red beret.

This underdog work strikes an interesting parallel between its plot and its theatrical run. Brilliance cannot be measured by means of marks at the end of term or how many dollars were earned. Max Fisher, like the film, is warm, short and incredibly awkward. The majority may not like him, and even less can understand him, but there’s something sweet and quietly beautiful that will leave you smiling for days.

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