Kentucker Audley has slowly been establishing himself as the film world’s class clown, using the downtime in between his own acting and filmmaking projects to craft satirical video essays and crowdfund a hat that just says “movies.” His latest crime against art is a reimagined version of Rushmore, one where Wes Anderson had no say in the soundtrack and the studio was left to fill the movie with the era’s most popular songs.
Brace yourself.
Mark Mothersbaugh’s whimsical, finger-picked score is usurped by the Spin Doctors in the opening credits. Max’s breadth of extracurriculars, so perfectly pegged to The Creation’s “Making Time”, is now underlaid by Smashmouth’s “All Star,” the herpes of ubiquitous ‘90s hits. Perhaps most egregiously, however, is the song Reuben spins on vinyl during the film’s final tableau. We won’t spoil it, but it is not The Faces.
This all feels especially wrong in Rushmore, not just because Anderson and music supervisor Randall Poster’s soundtrack owns, but because the cheesy, candy-colored pop hits of the ‘90s completely shatter the film’s wistful, melancholy tone.
“What’s my age again?” is a question Max very well may have asked himself, but, Christ Almighty, not to the opening chords of Blink 182. This thing is cruel.