Rushmore: Two’s Company

Rated R

Rushmore offered one of the year’s little surprises. Directed by Wes Anderson and written by Owen Wilson, Rushmore follows teen-age wunderkind Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman). Fischer will either find the cure for cancer or head up the Most Wanted list.

Son of a barber pretending to be the scion of a neurosurgeon, Fischer participates in every extra curricular activity known to Rushmore Academy. Fischer’s specialty seems to be playwriting, if only because his vivid imagination constantly gets him into trouble.

Threatened with expulsion, Fischer develops a mentor relationship with Rushmore benefactor, steel magnate Bill Murray. Murray sees something in Fischer (perhaps his own youth) and treats Fischer as his equal. When Fischer develops a serious crush for one of Rushmore’s elementary schoolteachers (Olivia Williams), Murray sympathizes. But when Murray falls for the same teacher, the once strong friendship turns into a deadly rivalry for the schoolteacher’s affection.

Another movie would paint Fischer as a geek. Rushmore respects Fischer’s inventiveness and drive, even as it delivers his comeuppance. After all, you never know — with the right direction, Max Fischer could become the next Steven Spielberg.

Rushmore, marks Fischer’s movie debut, and quite an auspicious one it is. Son of Talia Shire and nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, he could have quite a future ahead of him. Bill Murray fights against doing romantic comedies, but Rushmore shows why he’s so good at it. With his lumpy, sardonic looks, he’s not what we expect in a romantic lead, but romance us he does.

In a world of special effects, Rushmore shines by comparison. It quietly delivers the goods.

Joan Fuchsman