Wes Anderon‘s Rushmore is a quirky, funny, and witty “fight the man” story about Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) and his misconception of a successful experience at the prestigious Rushmore Academy.  Max is a jack-of-all-trades, creating and/or presiding over many of the school’s extracurricular activities, including the French Club, Stamp & Coin Club, and the Beekeeper’s Society.  Despite all of this however, Max is not a very popular sophomore and his grades leave him teetering on expulsion.  After hearing a speech from local steel-factory owner, Herman Blume (Bill Murray), Max decides to do all that he can to strike up a friendship with the man.  Then, he meets Miss Cross (Olivia Williams).

Miss Cross, a very pretty, widowed young teacher, catches the eye of Max right away.  He does all he can to gain attention from Miss Cross, including  asking his new friend Herman Blume for a loan to build an aquarium on Rushmore Academy’s property.  Eventually, Blume and Miss Cross are introduced by Max and the love triangle begins!

Cross is drawn to Blume’s depressed and “puppy-like” qualities,  and driven away from Max because he is younger, creepier, and a student at the school she teaches at.  Not to be outdone, Max pulls out all the stops to fight for his love.  This makes for an extremely funny movie.

Wes Anderson split the writing duties with friend and usual casted actor, Owen Wilson, and they could not have done a better job.  Some of the one-liners in this movie are delivered with such good timing (classic Anderson) that you can’t help but laugh out loud.

Rushmore is a “coming-of-age” story that anyone can enjoy.  If you’re a fan of Anderson’s work and have never seen this, I recommend going out and watching it right away.  If you haven’t seen any of his other movies, watch this movie for Bill Murray alone.  Herman Blume is one of my all-time favorite Murray roles.