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Title:	Rushmore: Criterion (1998)
Studio Line:	The Criterion Collection/Home Vision - Love. Expulsion. Revolution. Wes Anderson's dazzling sophomore effort is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy's most extracurricular student-and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Bill Murray). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization even as it captures the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache. Criterion is proud to present 1998's most acclaimed film in a Director Approved special edition.
Director:	Wes Anderson
Cast:	Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel, Brian Cox, Mason Gamble.
DVD:	Widescreen 2.35:1/16x9; audio English DD 5.1; subtitles none; closed-captioned; single sided - dual layered; 24 chapters; rated R; 93 min.; $39.99; street date 1/18/00.
Supplements:	Audio Commentary by Wes Anderson, co-writer Owen Wilson, and actor Jason Schwartzman; "Making of Rushmore": an exclusive behind the scenes documentary by Eric Chase Anderson; Max Fischer players present theatrical adaptations of Armageddon, Out Of Sight, and The Truman Show, staged especially for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards; "The Charlie Rose Show", featuring Wes Anderson and Bill Murray; Cast Audition Footage; Wes Anderson's hand-drawn storyboards, plus a film-to storyboard comparison; Props, posters, photos, and other graphic ephemera; Original Theatrical Trailer; Special Collectible Poster insert a map of Rushmore's key events.
Purchase:	DVD | Novel - Wes Anderson | Music soundtrack - Various Artists

Picture/Sound/Extras: B+/B+/A Hype is an odd thing. Over the past year or so, we've seen two films that received an extremely high amount of hype from Internet sources such as newsgroups, and yet both have completely different images right now. One example is The Blair Witch Project. That film showed the marketing power of Internet hype, as a movie that received much of its attention via that medium became an enormous hit. While one would think this would inspire much happiness with Web-heads, it actually has resulted in a complete different outcome. TBWP seems much reviled now by the same folks who once embraced it. Why? Mainly because it wasn't theirs anymore; just like when a band goes from clubs to stadiums, the early adopters abandoned the film because it all of a sudden seemed bourgeois. While Rushmore received similar amounts of hype from the same kinds of people, it hasn't suffered the same sad fate with Internet hipsters. Actually, Rushmore has taken some hard hits from all the folks who "don't get it," but it hasn't seen nearly the level of nastiness. Why? Because Rushmore wasn't nearly the success that TBWP was; actually, with a gross of only about $17 million, it's hard to call it a hit at all. But the "buzz" took hold and made a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't have seen Rushmore attend screenings of it. Chances are I'm one of them. Like many others, though, I also saw the film and couldn't help but wonder what all the fuss was about. I thought Rushmore was a decently amusing and entertaining little film but didn't deserve all of the plaudits it received. I don't always stick with my first opinions, though, especially in regard to comedies. As such, I thought I'd give the new Criterion DVD release of Rushmore a try. So now that I've seen the film twice, what do I think? About the same. Rushmore is a clever, gently provocative and well-performed film but not one that does a whole lot for me. I enjoy the movie but must admit that even at a brief length of only 93 minutes, it appears somewhat long and seems to drag. I suppose that while I'll ultimately recommend Rushmore, it'll have to be one of my most lukewarm recommendations because I'm so iffy about the movie. Admittedly, I can't find any significant flaws in the movie. The story isn't overly creative, involving essentially a love triangle as it does; as I think the filmmakers would acknowledge, Rushmore owes some serious debts to The Graduate and strongly resembles the subtly subversive tone of that classic. But this film doesn't compare to The Graduate, though it's hard for me to define why one succeeds so much better than the other. I think Rushmore simply seems more self-conscious; the participants appear to try very hard to make that kind of film and so the movie seems a little strained at times. Ultimately, though, I do like Rushmore; I just can't get too enthusiastic about it. Jason Schwartzman does a fine job as Max Fischer, the nerdy 15-year-old protagonist who manages to be both an overachiever and an underachiever at the same time. While Max rarely resembles a regular teen, that's the point, and it makes those times when his age does become important all the more poignant. Bill Murray received a lot of positive attention for his role as depressed tycoon - and romantic combatant against Max - Herman Blume, and it's generally well-deserved. While I'd say this is Murray's best acting job, it's not his best performance by a long shot. I differentiate the two because Murray was spectacularly good in movies like Ghostbusters and Quick Change but he wasn't really required to act in those movies; they just relied on his usual brand of shtick, and were all the more successful for it. In Rushmore, however, while Murray gets some laughs, his typically cocky and smarmy persona is nowhere to be seen, and he actually has to play a person instead of a caricature. Again, that's no slam on his past work, which was brilliant and I think preferable to his performance here; it's just recognition of the different type of work he does here. Wes Anderson directs Rushmore in a competent manner, but the movie really does drag at times. It starts out well but simply scrapes along during most of the final act; it seems that although the action should heat up, the filmmakers have little left to say until they can limp along to the movie's conclusion. Maybe it's just because MTV's killed my ability to pay... to pay... oh, I forget what I was saying, but all I know is I felt pretty restless during the movie's last 30 minutes or so. Still, I do like Rushmore, for better or for worse, and it's a title I'll keep and revisit in the future. Will additional screenings reveal any significant nuances that so far escape me? Maybe, maybe not, but the picture's worth a few more looks. The DVD: Rushmore appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this single-sided, dual-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. While the picture generally looks very good, it has a few small flaws that keep it from being truly terrific. Sharpness appears fairly strong and crisp throughout the movie, though some wide shots suffer from mild softness. I saw no problems with moire effects or jagged edges, but the DVD didn't come through the anamorphic downconversion to my 4X3 TV as well as I'd like; when the camera moved, I occasionally detected that "stringy" look that seems typical of these discs. The print itself generally looked clean, though occasional spots and speckles appeared. Colors were a strong point of the DVD, as they seemed consistently accurate and well-saturated. Oddly enough, one of the best-looking examples of color comes from Max's ugly brown coat that has yellow and red sections on it; for some reason, that sucker replicated really well! Black levels were appropriately deep and shadow detail usually seemed good, though some scenes looked overly opaque. Overall, Rushmore offers a strong image, but it wasn't exceptional. The same statement applies to the film's Dolby Digital 5.1 mix; this track suited the movie pretty well but won't win any awards. The soundstage appeared nicely broad at the appropriate times and could really be quite engulfing on occasion. It's a talky little film, so the focus is mainly up front, but the audio expanded when necessary. Surround usage was quite good at times, especially during Max's theatrical extravaganzas. Sound quality seemed fine. Dialogue always appeared crisp and natural, and I had no trouble understanding it. Music could be a little distorted at times, but that was clearly due to source material; most of the songs came from the Sixties and Seventies and will never sound perfect. Despite those flaws, the tunes were reproduced well and showed some good range. Effects also seemed realistic and adequate for the tasks at hand. Rushmore won't be anyone's demo track, but it works well for the film. Since this edition of Rushmore comes from the fine folks at Criterion, one might expect a nice complement of extras, and one wouldn't be disappointed. While the DVD isn't the best special edition I own, it's nonetheless a very strong package. First up is a running audio commentary from Wes Anderson, cowriter/coproducer Owen Wilson, and Schwartzman. As is usually the case with Criterion tracks, each participant was recorded separately and their remarks were edited into this piece. It's a pretty good track, with a fair amount of interesting statements about the film and its creation. It did an effective job of filling me in on the details, and I found it enjoyable and stimulating. A bunch of video supplements can also be found on this DVD. One section, called "The Rushmore AV Club", includes a nice variety of pieces. We have the "Making of Rushmore", a nearly 17 minute documentary. This program features lots of behind the scenes footage of the set. In no way is it a coherent overview of the film's creation, but it seems very fun and interesting as it shows some essentially anecdotal shots. I, for one, always feel amazed at how lame movies look as they're being made! A full edition of "The Charlie Rose Show" appears. The first 33 minutes feature Rose's interview with Bill Murray, while the final 20 minutes show Roses' chat with Wes Anderson. Rose is not a very entertaining interviewer, and I'm not sure he's so bright either; he seemed convinced that the story had something to do with Max wanting his face on Mount Rushmore. Rose has a knack for provoking long discussions with participants but making them ultimately unmemorable; his talk with Quentin Tarantino on Criterion's edition of Pulp Fiction appeared similarly flat. As such, this program might be worth a look but don't expect a lot from it. We get some basic discussions of the film from Murray and Anderson but Rose is unable to provoke much meaningful insight. One interesting (to me, anyway) footnote: I noticed at least two times that Murray seemed to quote his own films. He said "Nobody likes a whiner" which comes right from Quick Change and also uses "I'm a mudder" which I think alludes to his part in Caddyshack. The weird part is that he didn't say these as part of his shtick or in any obvious way; they were just part of the conversation and wouldn't stand out if you didn't know his work. (Hey, if I'm wrong about the "mudder" line, feel free to e-mail me with its actual source.) We also find a film to storyboard comparison for the movie's opening scene; this shows the picture in the top half and the board in the bottom. Further exhibits present those boards plus some from four other scenes on their own. I'm not a big fan of storyboards but these were more interesting than most, mainly because they don't restrict themselves to just drawings; we see a lot of text notes from Wes Anderson as well. (Note that the comparison part just shows the drawings; you'll have to consult the main storyboard section to see Anderson's text.) The "AV Club" area finishes with the movie's theatrical trailer, but that's not the end of the supplements. The "Archiva Graphica" displays a great variety of different materials, from some basic publicity shots to a lot of close-ups of small bits from the film, like the painting of Blume's family and the notes of Max's speech to his public school class. I expected just some plain production photos, but this section was quite a lot of fun. Finally, the "Max Fischer Players Present" area provides more compelling video materials. "Auditions" shows what is says, the auditions for six of the actors: Schwartzman, Mason Gamble, Sara Tanaka, Stephen McCole, and Ronnie and Keith McCawley. Schwartzman's segment shows both a videotape and a film clip, whereas the others all feature simply video shots. It's pretty interesting to see these early attempts by the actors, especially when their first tries are so different from the final effects. Two sections - "Grover Cleveland Society for the Performing Arts" and "Rushmore Academy Productions" - resemble the "Archiva Graphica" in that they both show odds and ends from those parts of the movie. As such, we see close-ups of the posters made for Max's plays, parts of the plays' programs, publicity stills, and other cool snippets. Lastly, the "1999 MTV Movie Award shorts" offers four different clips that ran during that program. There's an introduction from Max, plus brief "plays" that parody The Truman Show, Armageddon, and Out of Sight. Like Rushmore itself, they aren't tremendously funny, but they're fun and witty nonetheless. Okay, that "lastly" was premature, because I almost forgot the paper materials! For one, we get critic Dave Kehr's useful comments about the film, plus a bunch of little cartoons from Eric Anderson (Wes's brother, and also the guy who filmed the "Making of..." program). Also included is a "special collectible poster insert: a map of Rushmore's key events." While I don't know how collectible it is, it does offer a fun cartoon look at the film (also drawn by Eric Anderson) and it nicely rounds out this package. As I mentioned earlier, I have to recommend Rushmore, although my lack of passion for it as a film makes this decision sort of halfhearted. At least my choice is much more hearted than it otherwise would have been due to Criterion's fine release of the movie; I think it takes me all the way up to four-fifths hearted! The picture and sound are both very good and a terrific complement of supplements makes the package as a whole quite compelling. I still ain't wild about the film itself, but Criterion's DVD of Rushmore is a clear winner. Menu: DVD Movie Guide | Archive | Top