"O R They?" [Rushmore]

Originally Posted 2/8/08:

Rushmore
Okay, well I finally got it. Rushmore is an extremely funny movie, and you even get some genuine emotion and good acting, particularly from Olivia Williams (Ms. Cross). Wes Anderson is unbelievably good at creating strange, stylized situations and making them absolutely hysterical while remaining understated and never being slapstick. I think my favorite exchange is this one:

Max: I understand you were in Vietnam?
Bloom: Yes, I was.
Max: Were you in the shit?
Bloom: (pause.)Yeah, I was in the shit.

It’s things like that that are so incongruous but deadpan and understated with no one really trying to make a joke. Beautiful. Anderson is extremely talented at what he does. Another incongruous thing is to watch Max and Bloom—two caricatures that can hardly be accepted as real people—interact with Ms. Cross, who is so stunningly real. It’s very funny sometimes, and very painful at others—Max pretending to get hit by the car being the best example of the latter.

I didn’t believe a lot of things in Rushmore*, but I’m not sure that’s a huge problem because it does seem Anderson’s movies exist in a sort of stylized reality all their own. The only thing that really bothered me was that I didn’t like Max much at all, but he was okay by the end, and it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment too much.

*1) I didn’t believe Max existed. I’ll give a pass on that. 2) I didn’t believe Ms. Cross would ever be interested in Bloom for more than 10 seconds. 3) I didn’t believe Margaret Yang would continue pursuing Max in the face of his incredible douchiness. 4) Obviously, I didn’t believe any of the play sets, but I totally have no problem with that part. Those plays are just out-of-this-world hilarious.

And then there’s the soundtrack, which is an absolute work of art. I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered better use of music in a film. I generally don’t downgrade a movie too much for even shitty music (see my A/A- for Into The Wild), but music this good definitely deserves a bonus.

The best part is that I no longer feel crazy for loving Royal Tennenbaums and disliking Rushmore. Fantastic. A.

Also…
Totally unrelated, but check this out—if you don’t find this funny then I think you need some serious therapy.

Also totally unrelated, but if the Democrats seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida, and that decides the nomination, that would be one of the most disgusting and indefensible things in the recent history of American politics. I'm already feeling sick at the prospect.