Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)

Wes 'Quirky' Anderson populates his films with strong ensembles, who are then under instructions to approach the comical vicissitudes thrown at their characters with a philosophical raised eyebrow. This worked to a degree in The Royal Tenenbaums and A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, probably becuse the principal protagonist wasn't such a self-centred and conniving little nerdlinger, as is the case with Jason Schwartzman's character here.
Max Fischer is about to get himself ejected from Rushmore, a posh American school existing in some period between the '30s and the present, for poor academic performance brought on by using the school as a personal playground through running every single off-curricular society. Then an English teacher turns up (the insipid Olivia Williams) and a crush on her becomes his new project. Bill Murray wanders in and out depressed with that philosophical raised eyebrow.
It's clear, as with Anderson's other efforts, that the accumulation of nonsensical interludes and random character foibles is intended to produce a composite which speaks out about Life. This kind of approach usually works on an American middlebrow audience. So, Fischer's machinations are to be seen as victories for the Everydweeb, and their outcomes as bittersweet life lessons.
But Fischer learns nothing, and is just as unpleasant at the end as at the start, which would be ok if it wasn't so clear that learning was intended. And a succession of interludes along his circular journey, such as the awful plays he produces, keep promising a point but work neither as satire on pseuds, knockabout fun or anything deeper.

4/10