Election

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film not geared for the entire family
Review: Election explores sensitive moral and ethical issues within the framework of a bawdy, dark comedic script. Early in the film, Matthew Broderick's character, teacher Jim McAllister, asks his class, "What's the difference between morals and ethics anyway?" Election presents wonderful examples that show the difference through real-life conflicts.

The primary conflict revolves around student Tracy Flick's campaign for Student Council President. Flick is the quintessential Type-A over-achiever who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Jim McAllister attempts to thwart her campaign through the careful selection of a running mate, school jock Paul Metzler. Tensions rise as the two students compete with McAllister quietly vying for Metzler's victorious win. When the election takes a surprising turn for the worse, McAllister takes matters into his own hands by manipulating the situation to construct his own vision of how the election should end. This re-emphasizes an early lesson McAllister taught his students involving morals.

The movie is rich with sub-plots that play on the morals vs. ethics theme. The storyline is layered with conflicts such as Paul Metzler's adopted sister, Tammy, who struggles with her own sexuality, academic problems, and family pressures. Jim McAllister suffers through serious fidelity problems in his marriage. Paul Metzler plays the victim between two conflicts involving his sister and the election as a whole. These situations are cast within a comedic structure that contain serious dramatic underpinnings.

While the movie portrays the lives of high school students, it is not a film for the whole family. The humor contains strong sexual content involving serious adult themes. For those expecting a fun movie for your children, this is not the film. For those looking for a "chick flick," the sexual references may be too intense. The humor is scoped towards the male mind and may leave female viewers offended or uncomfortable due to the graphic sexual innuendos.

Sexual references aside, Election is a classic movie acted by an interesting cast of seasoned professionals and newbie actors. The script is solid, funny, and the movie very well paced and directed. The characterization builds well due to the selection of talented actors, each who fit their role believably. Reese Witherspoon becomes Tracy Flick; Chris Klein becomes Paul Metzler. It's hard to imagine others who might play those roles better. Other characters are equally believable and Broderick's performance is superb.

During the making of the film, realism was foremost in the mind of director Alexander Payne. It was filmed on location in Payne's hometown, Omaha, Nebraska. The school footage was shot in Papillion-LaVista High School just outside of Omaha. Classroom scenes were filmed during school hours, which provided a natural, real-life backdrop. Adjacent rooms had actual classes taught during filming. Ambient noise during these scenes were not added, they are the sounds of a school in session. Extras were students who attend the high school.

The DVD contains some added features, the best of which is audio commentary by Alexander Payne. There are deleted scenes that exist but were regretfully not included on the DVD release.

Election holds-up well with continued viewings. For those who are not offended by its style of humor, this movie won't become a forgotten addition to the DVD collection. It's a bright movie worthy of repeat performances.

Rating:
Summary: "Who cares about this STUPID election?"
Review: At the start of "Election," Jim McAllister tells viewers how well his life is going. He's a dedicated and popular social studies teacher at Carver High School in Omaha, with a loving wife and a best friend on the faculty. By the film's end, Jim has been fired from his job, become a national laughingstock, been divorced by his wife for infidelity, and moved to New York City. Why? It all starts with Tracy Flick.

Tracy, played in career-defining fashion by Reese Witherspoon, is a running for student-government president at Carver. She's an odd mix of youthful naivete; barely suppressed resentment at slights both real and imagined; and a pure Machiavellian drive to succeed. She's also having an affair with Jim's math-teacher best friend Dave, whose extracurricular activities get him fired early in the movie.

Concerned about the effects of Tracy's reckless ambition and bitter over his friend Dave's firing, Jim develops an unhealthy obsession with her (the scene where Tracy appears in Jim's head while he's being intimate with his wife is one of the most consistently funny in movie history). Determined to halt Tracy's rise, Jim decides to recruit popular ex-jock Paul Metzler to oppose her in the election. Paul, brilliantly portrayed by Chris Klein, is everything Tracy isn't: innocent, wide-eyed, naive, and slow-witted, with a penchant for vacant stares and extremely stupid comments. Paul's lesbian sister Tammy also decides to enter the race, bitter over her brother's theft of a girl's affections.

What follows is one of the most brilliantly satirical movies I've had the pleasure of seeing. Although the central event of "Election" may be a high-school election, it might as well be a presidential race. Carver High becomes a microcosm for the world in general, with the election as the backdrop for a sordid tale of lust, betrayal, power, ambition, and resentment. Jim (is there any doubt that this is Matthew Broderick's best role?) may sound idealistic at the start of the movie, but by the end he's gotten dirtier than anyone else. In fact, out of the principal characters in the movie only Paul really comes out clean.

"Election" is, without a doubt, one of the most well-crafted comedies of recent years. Much like "The Simpsons" in its prime, the movie is brilliant in its vulgarity and unpredictability. The main characters are fully realized and realistic, and the actors (Klein especially) can wring laughs out of even the tiniest facial expression. The humor is often off-color, but never in a stupid teen-movie sort of way. "Election" is a reminder of how funny a movie can be when it relies on little things like wit and creativity. I try to be pretty careful with my five-star ratings, but "Election" would get a hundred out of a hundred from me.

Rating:
Summary: Highschool student-teacher sex is funny?
Review: I believe a teacher having sex with one of his students is considered a felony. In this film its a comedic plot. Why is it the Broderick films I have seen all attempt to find comedy senseless criminal acts? What generation/group is Broderick a member of that thinks causing pain and suffering is so funny?

The redemption of this film is found in Witherspoon's acting and the fact that all the criminals in the film got their just punishment.

I gave this film four stars because I was able to ignore Broderick's comedic(?) narration and billing.

Rating:
Summary: "You look like you could use a CUPCAKE!"
Review: There are entertaining films that have a wicked sense of humor and then there are entertaining films that have a really wicked sense of humor. Alexander Payne's "Election" is a film that falls into the latter category. That alone distinguishes the film but the really amusing aspect of it is that it is so much fun because it is so true.

Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) goes out of her way to excel at every subject and every activity that her high school offers. When the student government elections come around, Tracy is determined to win the office of president. Teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is more than fed up with her and devises a plan to thwart Tracy. He enlists a jock named Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her but things start to go haywire when Paul's sister, Tammy (Jessica Campbell) enters the race vowing to disband the student government and difficulties in Jim's life finally catch up with him. A nearby wastebasket and a final act of desperation eventually does Jim in.

"Election" is a fine black comedy. Every school had a Tracy Flick and this film accurately captures the attitudes teachers and fellow students held toward such students. It also accurately captures how oblivious these Tracy Flicks were toward all the chaos they were leaving in their wakes. "Election" also is Reese Witherspoon's breakout film as she ably balances the entire production on her shoulders and never takes a single misstep. Broderick is also surprisingly amusing as her fed-up teacher. This is not the cute and good-natured Broderick from the Eighties but rather a sinister, conniving man who has been pushed too far by his dastardly nemesis. Watching his own life go down the drain as he tries to destroy Tracy is deliciously and darkly humorous. Klein and Campbell are also great in solid supporting turns. Campbell in particular distinguishes herself with her wonderful campaign speech in the film. It's the one speech you've always wished someone in your school would say but alas no one ever did - you know it's true.

Rating:
Summary: No chad-counting required...
Review: I can vividly recall the promotional campaign behind ELECTION during its initial 1999 release; I thought it was going to be a rollicking teen comedy focusing on Reese Witherspoon's character seducing teachers for purposes of entrapment- the MTV Films label reinforced such a notion. How wrong I was. The plot was not as simple as that, the movie was not just another rote entry in the youth genre (not that there's anything wrong with another rote entry in the youth genre; those films can be a lot of fun). ELECTION, however, is much more highbrow than one might think.

Matthew Broderick plays Jim McAllister, high school teacher. His is an ordinary life, benign, happy, seemingly fulfilled. He's married to a loving, gentle wife, he likes his job, loves the kids he teaches, he's completely ensconced in the normal environs of suburban tranquility. Until Tracy Enid Flick comes along.

Miss Flick is a go-getter, pure and simple. It's not that she's necessarily more cerebral than everyone else- she's not so smart that she'll someday cure a disease or design a novel jet propulsion system- but she is uncannily unflappable and incredibly ambitious. She was born with an extremely active overachiever gland, and she has no problem using it.

Mr. McAllister is in charge of the school election system. Miss Flick is interested in winning the election. But Jim isn't so sure she deserves to win. When no one else enters the race, he decides to convince former football prodigy Paul Metzler- played by Chris Klein of the AMERICAN PIE features- to run against her; he convinces the laidback, easygoing Metzler that one person running in an election constitutes a quasi-dictatorship. But there's more going on here; Jim can't stand Flick for many reasons, including the fact that the teaching career of his best friend Dave was sidelined due to an affair he initiated with the susceptible straight-A coed. Once McAllister pokes his nose into the affairs of the election, a chain reaction is catalyzed into motion- one which seals his fate and precipitates one of the worst, most tragic downfalls in cinematic history.

One of the greatest strengths of Alexander Payne's ELECTION is its use of multiple-viewpoint voiceover; each character involved in the evolving mess gets to share his/her thoughts and observations, which makes for an efficient method of telling the story. Watching as convolution yields to yet more convolution- and spying on the ever-encroaching storm which threatens to decimate McAllister's life- proves to be an exercise in sustained fulfillment.

There are many themes and statement present in the piece. The two worlds of teachers and students coexisting in the same locale day-in/day-out always provides useful fodder for complex examination. Broderick's character sees great threat in Flick; granted, he has the understandable motivation in the ruination of his crony, but he also sees yet another type-A extrovert who will go on to future endeavors which will easily surpass his lot in life. On the other side of the mirror, we see the life of the students, more sophisticated than any of us probably assign credit for; we like to think that the bodies of classmates are only interested in getting a quality education, and when they are not, they are up to riffraff activities which, on the whole, amount to indiscretions which are wholly minor in nature. Well, we know such a statement is fanciful and misguided; student bodies are intense sociological dynamics which are every bit as political and rancorous as a national presidential campaign, which is why the use of the election process in the film as the focal point of the arc is very apt both structurally and allegorically. Seeing the results of McAllister's fiddling might teach us two lessons: 1) teachers should stay out of student affairs, and 2) perhaps holding educational elections in school isn't as advisable as one might think; perhaps, instead of being educational, it brings on the corruption that much sooner.

ELECTION is not just a civics lesson, however. If you want laughs, there are a lot to be had; Payne effectively sprinkles several belly-scream sequences throughout the proceedings. And he extracts some pristine performances from the entire cast- even the tertiary players shine through. At first, I thought Broderick was going to be a pale echo of his Ferris Bueller character; in fact, that was my initial cynical impression when I first heard of this title: John Hughes's most famous creation as a teacher. But I never once thought of Bueller while watching, not once; Broderick truly succeeded (unlike his failure in the GODZILLA remake). And the very fetching Reese Witherspoon was, as Carson Daly once pointed out, the only person who made sense for her role; she projected the exact demeanor needed for the character, a sort of unselfconscious, controlled display of harried, ladder-climbing desire.

There's no dispute concerning this ELECTION...it is the clear winner...

Rating:
Summary: Sharp, clever comedy
Review: This is one of the funniest movies I've seen in years, featuring a fine comedic performance by Reese Witherspoon, who is a natural as goody-goody A-student Tracy Flick (watch the spelling of that last name: the second and third letters have a tendency to fuse, as they do in Tracy's campaign buttons and cupcakes, one of many sight jokes in the movie). She's a malevolent, scheming little monster who has her heart set on being elected Carver High School's student body president. Matthew Broderick (back in high school yet again, poor guy) plays Mr. McAllister, a somewhat hapless history and civics teacher who easily discerns her two-faced nature and would like to derail her campaign for the further good of humankind. So he convinces Paul Metzger (Chris Klein), a popular but dim-witted star athlete with a heart of gold, to run against Tracy. Unfortunately Mr. McAllister has a few problems of his own that distract him, not the least of which is a wandering libido and an inability to get his wife pregnant.

This is a nearly perfect satire of high school culture that does not pander to a teenaged audience, as does, e.g., American Pie (1999). The script by director Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor from the novel by Tom Perrotta sparkles with wit and keen observations of the way people really are, festooned with some very funny dialogue. It includes several clever subplots that all work together seamlessly. I particularly enjoyed the heartache, revenge and resolution of lesbian Tammy Metzger (Jessica Campbell) who maneuvers her way from counter-cultural dweeb to student body fav to the school of her heart's desire. The scene where she watches the Sacred Heart all-girls school soccer team perform and realizes that's where she REALLY wants to be is just a beautiful piece of movie making.

Payne's direction is smooth and sure-handed with an artist's attention to detail. The election denouement is well set up and the bee sting that McAllister gets that swells up his right eye is an inspired visual reminder of the "sting" planted on him by his friend's ex-wife. The ending which shows us with apt irony what happens to McAllister and Tracy and Tammy and Paul as they go their separate ways is a delight.

Rating:
Summary: Truly excellent comedy/drama/satire
Review: If there's one thing that 'Election' states more clearly than anything else it's that not all movies with teenagers in them are teen movies. Election is in fact a witty, biting and often hilarious satire of the rivalry and corruption in governmental elections. In it the audience is introduced to determined go-getter Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon), a student who is determined to be president of the student body council. Her teacher Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) on the other hand, both attracted and repulsed by Tracy, decides to enter popular jock Paul (Chris Klein) into the running. Before you know it his angst-ridden younger sister Tammy has also joined the race to get back at school friend Lisa, who spurned her sexual advances.

This microcosm of the real world is ingenious, allowing for plenty of similarities to be drawn between the characters and real political figures. However, this isn't just a satire. It is a movie that allows its audience to empathise with it characters, whether its Tracy wondering why no-one has signed her yearbook, Paul upset about his skiing accident or Tammy sitting staring at the local power plant in quiet contemplation, you're moved. Even Mr. McAllister, whose life just spirals more and more out of control the more he tries to get a firm grip on it. The film also looks at adults' envy for the younger generation and the question of how far a person should go to pursue their dream of happiness ' is it even existent?

A perfect cast ably supports all of these themes. Reese Witherspoon gives the performance of her career as the resolute Tracy, Chris Klein is amiable as the sports hero and Ferris Bueller is cast as the (mostly) by-the-book teacher. 'Election' is one must-see movie.

Rating:
Summary: When John Hughes grows up, he'll make a film like this
Review: Election is a film, but it feels like a parody of a sitcom. It takes a typical SITuation and follows it to its absurd conclusion.

Let me explain. Reese Witherspoon is well, let's just say, Marcia Brady on Ritalin. It's an episode about an election. If Tracy (aka Marcia) doesn't win, gosh, we just don't know what she'll do.

The election is between Tracy, the opportunistic brain, and a dumb, naive, popular, but really sweet jock (not your stereotypical bully type, like, say Jay Mohr in high school or anything). Then there's the third candidate, but I won't give that away.

Will the brain beat the brawn? Hmm.

So that's the surface layer. Definitely Brady Bunch material, right? But add Matthew Broderick as the "protagonist", a teacher who's sleazy, jealous and spiteful. Throw in a killer bee, a jezebel neighbor, and a jilted teenage lesbian. Also add real human emotions, not caricatures, where the viewer at times can't say "he's bad" or "she's good". They're all human. Some are just more inhumane.

The movie explores motivation, winning, the political process, and human tragedy. But boy is it funny! See it, I mean it. It was perhaps my favorite of 1999.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant dark comedic skewering of high school life
Review: Don't be deceived by the MTV logo on the box. Election is no ordinary high school movie. It is so far removed from the typical "teen movie" that it's sure be viewed with hostility from fans of those dreadfully stereotypical movies. What Election is, however, is a sharp, hilarious, on-target satire of high school life from the point of view of both the students and the teachers. Probably more so from the teachers' point of view, as the film focuses on Jim McAllister, played to perfection by Matthew Broderick as a man so stuck in the routine his daily life that director Alexander Payne visually compares him to a caged rat. He is a popular teacher who really desires to help his students, but is overcome by his spite for over-achieving student Tracy Flick. Reese Witherspoon (possibly giving the best performance of her career) has created a truly memorable character with Tracy Flick. Everybody knows someone like her, and is either irritated by her or exactly the same as her. Witherspoon's luminous performance is the heart of the film.

The story is pretty simple and revolves around Mr. McAllister's contempt for Tracy which leads him to attempt to sabotage her chances of being class president. The real meat of the film, however, is the characterization. Director Payne gets us deep into the minds of the characters, and lets us know their innermost thoughts, desires and regrets. Typical teen and high school movies rarely have characters this deep and fleshed out. Election is essentially a character study in which we see three or four main characters deal with issues of morality and conduct. Jim McAllister is dissatisfied with his job and his marriage, Tracy Flick is dissatisfied with her obsessiveness and ambition. Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) is dissatisfied with being a dim-bulb football player, and Tammy Metzler (Jessica Campbell) is dissatisfied that the girl she loves ditched her for her brother.

It could be said that Election is about any number of things: The rigors of high school life, the consequences of one's actions, the corruption of politics, the impossibility of changing destiny, being envious and jealous towards others, the tedium of one's career, or just being miserable. Everyone will take something different away from it. That's one thing that's great about it. The themes are implicit and require interpretation on the part of the viewer. Personally, I think it's an indictment of obsessive ambition, represented equally by the Jim McAllister and Tracy Flick characters.

Alexander Payne is a brilliant director. No other film director that I know of can so effectively find profundity in the simplicity of every day occurrences. His films focus on small town life (usually Omaha, Nebraska since that's where he's from) and dissect the ins and outs of every day life. He manages to bring out profound questions that spring up from the inanity and frustrations of life. In addition to Election, he made another brilliant movie called About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson. It's a film which again philosophically explores the tedium and rituals of ordinary life in Middle America.

Election is a sharp, biting character study that is immensely deeper than the average high school movie. It makes the viewer question the choices they've made and will make in the future. It features Oscar-worthy performances by Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon, is expertly directed, has brilliant sharp dialog and a look and feel of authenticity that isn't usually found in high school movies. By looking at the lives of these flawed people, we can perhaps learn something about ourselves and our life decisions.

Rating:
Summary: "What's the difference between morals and ethics?"
Review: Election is a very difficult movie to classify and review. With staple actors from the teen pulp genre, like Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein, it would be easy to write it off as merely another school holiday flick. However, the issues dealt with include sexual relationships between teacher and student, and marital infidelity; subjects more suited to adult fare.

The story is centred around an ambitious and perfect student (Witherspoon), and the teacher (a woefully miscast Matthew Broderick - stick to the slapstick, buddy) who decides to meddle with destiny and stop the rise and rise of Tracy Flick. His solution? To persuade another, more popular student to run against Tracy in the all-important election for student president. What he doesn't foresee is how the election will change his own life forever.

It is a comedy that works very well in some places. Never again will one be able to consider a cupcake, without thinking of the 280 "Pick Flick" personalised cupcakes. And the collection of sports jocks, nerds and sundry other students, whilst highly stereotypical, are good for a few laughs. It is when the movie *tries* to be funny that it fails. A bit of special-effects make-up slapped on to resemble a bee-stung eyelid isn't all that amusing, and seems out of character with the rest of the film. Another notable aspect is the voiceovers done by the characters. These are funny and very clever, in that the viewer gets a lot more by reading between the lines, than taking what is said at face value.

Election is certainly worth a watch on an idle Saturday afternoon. But don't be surprised if, at the end, you are unable to decide if you enjoyed it or not.