Enticing the eye with fussy widescreen compositions and the ear with British Invasion pop, Wes Anderson’s semi-autobiographical second feature finds him refining his quirky, hermetic worldview. Jason Schwartzman, as insanely ambitious prep-school nerd Max Fischer, was a real find, but it’s Bill Murray, in (still) the most soulful performance of his career, who gives the film its underlying sense of gravitas. He’s done a lot of Anderson’s films since, but none as deep as this one.
