As I'm sure you're all aware by now, I don't see many movies in the theater. The last one I saw was A Bug's Life, and before that, I think it was Saving Private Ryan.

Anyway, on March 7th, my parents and I saw Rushmore. We saw it at a matinee, so of course there were three kids in the back row who talked throughout the entire movie. They were so loud that I could hear them from my middle of the theater seat.  It took all the restraint I had not to go back there and beat the crap out of them.

This is a big part of why I don't go out to the movies.  I'm a cheap person by nature, and figure "Why spend $7 to see a movie at night when I can go a few hours earlier and see it for $4.75?"  Then I go the few hours earlier, and the place is filled with yelling kids and talking people.  This isn't your house!  Show some courtesy!

Anyway, Rushmore is the second film from director Wes Anderson.  His first flick was Bottle Rocket, which I absolutely adored and will probably get on laser soon. (My favorite part in that movie is where Dignan takes out his notebook to reveal his life's plan - the notebook is an old "Language Arts" notebook. It's such a small bit, but it's so perfect!)

Everyone talks about how the movie is so original, and, y'know what?  They're right. There are only so many times you can see asteroid/talking bug/World War II/Queen Elizabeth I/life as a TV show/Reservoir Dogs ripoff movies before your head explodes. Wes Anderson deserves acolades for that alone.

The music is cool too. No cookie-cutter alt-rock soundtrack here, nononono. In fact, my mother commented that she hadn't heard the Rolling Stones song on the soundtrack since the song first came out, way back whenever that was.

The plays that Max puts on (the Serpico bit and the Vietnam war extravaganza) are hysterical.  I burst out laughing in several spots. (And yes, I have been known to write plays in the past that were performed, though I didn't have as many props and pyrotechnics at my disposal.)

As great as this movie is, though, I do have a rather serious problem with it.  Well, not so much with it alone, but it when considered along with other movies. (Just smile and nod as I rant.)

If a movie stars a guy who is a geek, he will be able to find happiness/love/redemption just by being himself. Such examples are this film and Angus, which I caught the end of on TNT recently. Revenge of the Nerds (which I admit I haven't seen) is also probably a good example, judging by its title.

However, if a movie stars a girl who is a geek, she will only find happiness/love/redemption by undergoing a complete physical makeover (which also usually involves a personality makeover, as the character goes from letting her freak flag fly to "oh, are they looking at li'l ol' me?" demure shyness). She's All That is a good present-day example, with the classic example probably being The Breakfast Club.

I'll admit there are a few cases where this isn't entirely true (in Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful, the "freaky" girl character gets the guy, but let's face it, Molly Ringwald and Mary Stuart Masterson are not hard on the eyes), but for the most part "pretty = loved" for us geek girls.

Sigh.