Ross v Ross

This scene has all you need for good comedy. Awkward dinner? Check. Drunken protagonist? Check. Lame pun? Check. Bill Murray’s character asking for the cheque? Check.

Rushmore is one of those rare things: a beautiful, funny and engaging film. Director Wes Anderson has been accused of promoting style over substance throughout his career (and I think in the case of The Life Aquatic the criticism is justified) but in Rushmore he strikes just the right balance, making a sumptuous movie that has characters you care about. It’s a film about growing up, love, heartbreak and friendship. And it’s great.

It also has some great scenes, and this one is up there with the best. Fresh from the success of putting on a school production of Serpico, Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) takes the teacher he loves, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), and the teacher who is his friend, Mr Blume (Bill Murray), out for a celebratory dinner. Unfortunately for Max, Miss Cross has brought along a friend of her own, Dr Peter Flynn, played by Luke Wilson.

Fischer behaves like a complete brat here, yet Schwartzman’s performance is so humorously heartfelt he manages to keep the audience on the side of his character. Wilson is perfectly deadpan in a role that requires him to merely set up punchlines, Williams channels Miss Cross’s anger brilliantly and Murray is just funny because he’s Bill Murray.

The terrific dialogue is matched by the performances and let’s face it: if you or I had written and directed a hit play, we wouldn’t be sweating it either. This scene just might be Rushmore’s Rushmore.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SCENE FROM RUSHMORE?

GREAT SCENES ARCHIVE

This entry was posted on November 11, 2009 at 11:38 am and is filed under GREAT SCENES with tags Bill Murray, GREAT SCENES, Movies, Rushmore, Wes Anderson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.