while watching wes anderson 's rushmore , it may be surprising to think that the role of max fischer , the film 's anti - hero , was not written with jason schwartzman in mind .
the young actor , making his film debut as a 15 year old student at the exclusive rushmore academy is so perfect in the role that it comes as a shock that anderson auditioned some two thousand other prospective stars before discovering schwarztman .
schwartzman plays max , a student who is more interested in his extra - curricular activities ( such as writing edgy plays like " serpico " and being president of the rushmore beekeepers ) but sees his grades suffer as a result .
on the brink of being thrown out , he lands himself in even more hot water when he falls for first grade teacher rosemary cross ( olivia williams ) and enlists the help of millionaire acquaintance herman blume ( the great bill murray ) to build an aquarium ( on rushmore 's baseball field ) in her honour .
unfortunately for everyone involved , blume finds that he has feelings for miss cross as well , which gets in the way of max 's plans to woo her .
max is one of the best - written characters we 've yet seen in the 90s , and schwartzman plays him to perfection in one of the finest comedy performances ever given by someone of his age .
as everyone else has probably already pointed out , he is reminiscent of a young dustin hoffman ( although i was reminded more of paul from " the wonder years " , from a visual standpoint , at least ) .
hopefully , if he avoids typecasting as weird , quirky loner - types he should earn himself a good career .
bill murray is his equal as blume , displaying a depth we have n't yet seen from him .
while this is n't his best performance ( that honour goes to groundhog day )
he is still terrific here .
williams is n't given much to do except react to schwartzman and murray , but still does fine work .
rushmore seems to go just a little too long but , while it is n't a perfect film ,
it is a definate must - see
for anyone who wants to see that rarity , an american coming - of - age film that actually works well without an excessive amount of sentimentality .
anderson has created a modern classic with a star who should , with any luck , rise to even greater success .
displaying a depth we have n't yet seen from him still does fine work a modern classic he is still terrific so perfect in the role actually works well it is a definate must - see