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The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 12 Best SNL Sketches in 50 Years of Saturday Night Live
Here are the 12 best SNL sketches in the 50 years of Saturday Night Live. Obviously, these things are subjective. So if you think we missed one, let us know in the comments. And now, the best SNL sketches, in our estimation, ever. Related Headlines The 12 Strangest Movies We've Ever Seen The 12 Most Captivating Prison Movies We've Ever Seen Why We Spent Our Wedding Fund Making Our Horror Movie, Sight Unseen Early Saturday Night Live sketches often felt seat-of-your pants and tended to lag at times as everyone tried to find the same pace. Not this one: A typical morning in the life of a Greek diner that refuses to adapt, it has a simple, recognizable hook and sweet slice-of-life simplicity. The rhythm is as pleasing as a morning routine. SNL is sometimes known for big characters, but almost everyone in this sketch plays it straight and real, which adds to its charm. Gilda Radner is especially good as the one customer who seems to understand the place, and Bill Murray gets the funniest moment with his panicked nodding, using only a single word. The sketch is a little more poignant when you know that star John Belushi's immigrant dad operated a struggling restaurant when Belushi was growing up in Wheaton, Illinois. Key line: "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, four Pepsi, two chip." The great Margot Kidder, playing a bank vice president on a business trip, receives a visit from a profoundly Midwestern, profoundly decent, assuredly unsexy sex worker: Fred Garvin, male prostitute. Dan Aykroyd brings big dad energy to the role of a kindly, folksy gigolo, and Kidder is a perfect straightwoman. The setup is absurd, but everyone plays it with endearing vulnerability. Like many Aykroyd characters, Fred Garvin would provide the template for many played-straight ridiculous characters to come. This one doesn't always turn up on lists of the best SNL sketches, but it should. It also gets referenced throughout the terrific new movie Saturday Night, in which Aykroyd is played, impressively, by Dylan O'Brien. Key line: "Ma'am, you're dealing here with with a fully qualified male strumpet." A high-flying, edgy satire of breathless coverage of President Reagan's attempted assassination in 1981. This sketch is the clear highlight of the years after the departure of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players. Eddie Murphy is brilliant not only as Buckwheat, but also as the man who shot him, John David Stutts. It also foreshadowed decades of round-the-clock news coverage with just as little self-awareness as Joe Piscopo's take on Ted Koppel. Key line: "It's good to see you all. Hi! I killed Buckwheat." With maybe the simplest concept of any Saturday Night Live sketch, this piece by legendary writer Jim Downey (above) — who also stars as an eager-to-please service representative — masterfully ridicules seemingly sincere corporate ad campaigns. The execution of a very basic idea is perfect. Key line: "We will give you the change, equal to... the amount of money that you want change for." A sketch where everyone else plays it straight so Chris Farley can give it 2,000 percent as Barney, a young man determined to be a Chippendales dancer. Some — including the brilliant former SNL writer Bob Odenkirk — believe that the sketch was cruel to Farley. But listen to his many friends in interviews on Dana Carvey and David Spade's Fly on the Wall podcast and you'll hear that Farley was very much on board with the premise of the sketch — and no one has ever been more committed to a sketch. The sketch works not because of the jokes about Farley's weight, but because of how sweetly and sincerely everyone plays the situation. Watch here. Key line: "I wish I could just flip a coin and be done with it, but we can't. We're Chippendales." Everyone else — from Julia Sweeney to Phil Hartman to David Spade to Christina Applegate — just tries not to hold it together as Matt Foley, played by Chris Farley at his best, absolutely takes over. The original Matt Foley sketch was a carryover from Farley's time working with writer-performer Bob Odenkirk at Chicago's Second City. By the time it came to SNL, it was at its full frenetic brilliance. It's also a sketch with heart — we end up sympathizing with everyone involved. Key line: "He's been down in the basement drinking coffee for about the last four hours so he should be ready to go." Another sketch you probably won't fall on many lists of the best SNL sketches, but this is the perfect mix of stupid and smart. Chris Parnell plays it straight as a father concerned with his financial future. It's also perfectly timed at less than 90 seconds, which makes us love it even more. Watch here. Key line: "A lot of investments companies rushed onto the internet. But Dillon-Edwards took their time." Passions run high in August 1976 as The Blue Oyster Cult records their hit song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" under the watchful eye of rock legend Bruce Dickinson (Christopher Walken). Also, let's save you a Google: Gene Frenkle, the percussionist played by Will Ferrell, is not a real person. This one turns up on almost every list of the best SNL sketches for a reason. Lots of reasons, actually. Key line: "I got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell." Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch, always outstanding) proves that she can even ruin breakfast at Disney World. It's a flawlessly written sketch that only gets funnier as everyone involved understandably falls apart with laughter. At one point, host Lindsay Lohan has no choice but to flee the sketch altogether. We're not fans of people breaking on camera, but this one is the gold standard of breaking on camera. Every Debbie Downer sketch on SNL is great, but this is our favorite. It's one of the best SNL sketches and best SNL moments. Key line: "It's official: I can't have children." A brutal jab at men who marry much younger women, "Meet Your Second Wife" is a very dark, very funny sketch with a solid premise and plenty of perfect small jokes packed in throughout. The unstoppable Tina Fey and Amy Poehler anchor a basically perfect, sharp-elbowed sketch. Bobby Moynihan and Aidy Bryant especially stand out with subtle, skillfull turns. Fey and Poehler are responsible for many of the best SNL sketches and performances, but this one's our favorite. Key line: "Actually it's seven." A lovingly detailed, laughs-in-the-specifics sketch that suggests maybe isn't America isn't so racially divided, after all. Exquisitely acted by everyone — Kenan Thompson (pictured), the longest-serving SNL castmember ever, is superb. But Tom Hanks is especially surprising as a MAGA-hat wearing conspiracy theorist who comes off as a pretty good guy. This is one of those best SNL sketches where you catch sharp new insights every time you watch. Watch here. Key line: "What is: I don't think so. That's how they get ya." Saturday Night Live has done multiple sketches in which a local news anchors get caught up in a very curious detail seemingly irrelevant to the major breaking story they're covering. This is the best. Newscasters Beck Bennett and Cecily Strong – as well as reporter on the scene Kenan Thompson — are ostensibly covering a Tampa sinkhole, but also can't understand why a local shopper played by Margot Robbie is married to a regular-guy Matt Schatt (Mikey Day). One of the best SNL sketches of recent times and all time, this one is a perfectly written and acted game of change-the-subject. Key line: "So... you two are married to each other." If you enjoyed this list of the best SNL sketches, you might also like these 12 Wild Stories From Behind the Scenes of Saturday Night Live. Also: We understand these things are subjective. So again, please share your own list of the best SNL sketches in the comments. All images from NBC's Saturday Night Live. Related Headlines The 12 Strangest Movies We've Ever Seen The 12 Most Captivating Prison Movies We've Ever Seen Why We Spent Our Wedding Fund Making Our Horror Movie, Sight Unseen
News.com.au
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘Biggest mystery' in cinematic history still unanswered
It's been more than 20 years since Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson joined forces for Sofia Coppola's award-winning film Lost in Translation. And yet, in the two decades since the movie's release, the mystery surrounding the pivotal final scene has never been revealed. Today, it remains one of the most endearing movie mysteries of all time. What did Murray's character Bob Harris whisper to Johansson's Charlotte during their final encounter? Only the co-stars, and the filmmaker herself know the answer. In the blockbuster, widely regarded as one of the best travel movies of all time, Murray plays a faded film star who forms a fleeting, intimate bond while in Tokyo with Johansson's character, a disillusioned young Yale graduate and newlywed. The film was a bona fide hit, earning $US118.7 million on a $4 million budget. It received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Murray. Coppola ultimately took home the award for Best Original Screenplay. And yet, that final whispered line seems to be what viewers still obsess over. Over the years, film critics and movie buffs have attempted to decode the parting thoughts of Murray's character at the end of the pair's whirlwind stay in the Japanese capital. But the answer has never been divulged. The most popular guess, which a YouTuber went viral for back in 2007, is: 'I have to be leaving, but I won't let that come between us, okay?' Other stabs in the dark from cinema detectives include: 'Promise me, that the next thing you do, is go up to that man and tell him the truth.' 'I just want you to know I will never forget this okay?' 'When John [Johansson's character's husband] is ready for his next business trip, go up to that man and tell him the truth, okay?' Others on Reddit have weighed in over the years, with one commenting, 'It's supposed to be ambiguous, a private moment just between the two characters.' Another wrote: 'How people hear anything but 'tell him the truth, okay' at the end of the phrase is bizarre.' Yet another couch critic said: 'You are supposed to decide what he whispers. I don't believe it is scripted.' There were plenty of jokes, too. 'You'll become Black Widow one day,' one person quipped. Director Sofia Coppola herself weighed in on the mystery on the film's 15th anniversary, simply stating: 'That thing Bill whispers to Scarlett was never intended to be anything. 'I was going to figure out later what to say and add it in and then we never did.' Meanwhile, the co-stars have continued to enjoy the prolonged secret over the years, without actually giving it away. The Cadyshak star, now 74, appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show back in March to promote his movie Riff Raff, however wound up reminiscing about the hit romantic comedy-drama from 2003. 'Well there was a girl, she was a teenager back then her name was Scarlett Johansson back then,' the comedian told Barrymore. 'She was only 17 when she made that movie, 17 years old and it was beautiful to make the movie with the two of them [Coppola and Johansson].' The host then hit up Murray about the unforgettable whisper scene. 'I love that you guys had the confidence to leave the film on the note of mystery,' she said. 'Well that was an inspired moment, that happened in the moment, it happened in the moment,' Murray said vaguely, before adding, 'there were three of us that had the same moment.' Despite whispering in Barrymore's ear for added flair, Murray concluded by saying: 'That was a moment of seeing, 'This is going to happen and it's going to be even better because we're never going to know'.' Right … Similarly, Johansson weighed in back in 2023 around the film's 20-year anniversary. 'Oh my god, that sounds pretty profound,' the Avengers star replied when hit up by Yahoo Entertainment about the exact transcript of the infamous moment. 'Probably way more profound than what was actually said!' Listening to the internet's answer a second time, she answered less confidently: 'Maybe? I don't know about that. I give it, like, a B-minus.' Of course, Johansson declined to reveal the exact sentence. And so, the mystery lives on.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bill Murray heaps praise on 'pretty' Birmingham
Hollywood's Bill Murray has described Birmingham as a "pretty city" ahead of a performance at Symphony Hall. The actor, famous for Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, is to perform his New Worlds tour which will see classically trained musicians play while he sings and reads American classics. Speaking to BBC WM ahead of the show, he said: "It really is a pretty city to drive into and it's been fun marching around."He also complimented Birmingham's "handsome" buildings and "beautiful" churches, before joking its statues were not "graffitied too horribly". Discussing the Brummies he had met, he said: "It's nice to be here, we've been marching around, it's a sunny day and there's a lot of people moving around out there. "It's an interesting town to look at and when you come to a different country it's great to just look at people."People seem to be very bubbly, happy moving around and no-one is crabby or cranky - I like it here." 'We knock them dead' Murray said those with tickets to Wednesday night's performance could expect him to do a "bunch of things". "I read some poetry, I read some literature, I sing some songs," he said. "We have a great violinist, Mira Wang, and a great pianist, Vanessa Perez and Jan Vogler on cello."We kill people every night, they don't see it coming and every night we knock them dead." Murray even had time to discuss Birmingham icon Ozzy Osbourne after an exhibition about the rock star was opened in the city on said: "He's his own kinda phantasm, he's his own spirit who flies over the universe and he touches a lot of people. "It's exciting to be here and walk among all these photographs of him everywhere, he's everywhere in town." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
