Rating: Summary: Wonderful movie marred by bad taste. Review: I personally love this movie! I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for the scenes which made me cringe, i.e. the scenes of infidelity and the cheerleader porn video(!) But I still enjoyed the election scenes with the jock, the b*tch and the lesbian. Matthew Broderick is great playing a throwback to his notorious Ferris Bueller character.
Rating: Summary: Deliciously deceptive... a great comedy! Review: I first heard of this movie from a friend. I scoffed it off, but one day in the local video store I saw it and decided to rent it. From the minute I put the video in the VCR to the very end, I loved it! It's a reality very common in today's high schools and even politics. The writers are excellent! They mixed in comedy with every scene, no matter how diabolical they were! Definitely deserves 5 stars and a huge THUMBS-UP!
Rating: Summary: A comedy with teeth. (That's a satire!) Review: It is such a joy to find a director/writer who knows what to say and how to say it. Rather than a brainless teen comedy, this is exactly the opposite. A very adult, comedic look at "morals and ethics", a subject upon which the main character is an "expert". The fact that the director has us rooting for the "nice guy" for the wrong reasons is the very essence of his message. Add to this two truly spectacular, nuanced performances by teen queen Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, and you have one of the best films within recent memory. It is heartening that there are a whole new group of smart indie satirists like Payne, Don Roos, Tom Dicillo, Todd Solondz, et al, that are following in the footsteps of Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges to bring us new (and wicked) work.
Rating: Summary: Pretty good, but kinda unfocused in my opinion. Review: I thought that this movie was hilarious in many ways but I also thought it wasn't quite sure what it wanted its theme to be. Mostly I just wanted to praise the performance of Phil Reeves as the principal. Oh my goodness. Every single second he was on the screen I was on the floor laughing -- his expressions and his delivery were priceless.
Rating: Summary: I liked this movie also....... Review: This was, pretty silly I agree this isn't for younger kids but the acting was good, well it's funny you'll laugh! enjoy
Rating: Summary: Very crude, but does have a point Review: First off, I'd like to say this movie isn't for kids. This is not your average "vote-for-me" election that this movie revolves around. Basically, this movie is about a straight-A student, Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) aiming to become class president of her high school and will stop at nothing to ensure she does, as she is battling her two opponents, a brother-sister duo, that also have as much determination. At the same time, her teacher, Jim McCallister (Matthew Broderick) is trapped in the election madness and frankly doesn't give a hoot if Tracy loses, because of a scandalous incident involving her and his good friend Dave that got Dave canned from teaching at the high school. And while juggling the election mayhem, Jim also has to juggle his romance problems that are making his life a living hell. And again, this movie is not for kids. It has nonstop language and several explicit situations. Despite that, this movie is really funny. There were several parts of the movie where I fell off my chair laughing, like the part where the candidates give their rather unflattering speeches. And I enjoyed the very unexpected twists the movie has to offer that end in humor. But through it all, I found this movie to be very black, and very deep. There were some parts of the movie where I could not stop thinking. I didn't soon forget this movie after I saw it. But bad news for DVD lovers about this movie, all the DVD has to offer is director's commentary that isn't all that interesting. I'm a hard-core DVD fan who believes a DVD without extras is like popcorn without butter. So, see this movie if you want a movie that makes you laugh and makes you think at the same time. But don't see it if you're a kid.
Rating: Summary: Terrific, inspired comedy from the makers of......MTV? Review: It's quite shocking that the people who brought you MTV have fashioned one of the most absurdly enjoyable high school movies in recent years, one that doesn't induce wretching at the mere mention of the "teen comedy" genre. The basis of the plot could be etched out on a beer mat (eg. Numerous dysfunctional teens compete in high school election), but the submarine-depth director Alexander Payne invests in this movie is nothing short of spellbinding. Deep breath, here we go. Prime candidate Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is smart and a go-getter, but too driven to have friends. Holding something of a grudge against her for a devastating affair with a former colleague, her teacher (Matthew Broderick) decides that she needs competition, suggesting to the cute, ski-damaged jock Paul Metzler ("American Pie"'s Chris Klein) that he should run. Once he does, sparks fly at school and at home, as his painfully confused sister decides to run too, after her sexual "experiments" with another girl leave her heartbroken. As you can imagine, the high school election doesn't run smoothly, and has disastrous consequences. Director Payne has not only worked miracles complicating the simplest of premises, but also ingeniously manages to avoid any number of clichés about geeks and jocks which reduces so much teen-com fare to the rubble of banality, sketching his characters intelligently and sensitively. The multiple-narrator perspective is also a wise choice, as it partially allows the viewer to carve out the characters for themselves. The ending is also spectacular, the denouement not resting on any "happy ever after" clichés, but the simple disappointment of reality. A charming movie, an excellent comedy, and quite possibly Matthew Broderick's most involving performance yet. Go MTV!
Rating: Summary: painful Review: The brilliance in this work is in its pain. We all knew Flick in high school, and we all wanted to strangle her little neck. I was very surprised when I saw it thinking that it would be another one of those high school movies, but it is so much more about cruelty, and Matthew Broderick's teacher character's problems with life, and in the fact that he, like the rest of us, wanted to strangle that girl in high school. It incorporates all sorts of adult themes that I was not expecting... his domination fantasies where he dreams of having sex with his student instead of with his wife, his affair, and then in the end he still loses and she wins, and the cycle continues in its inherent truth. A must see, not for the faint of heart.
Rating: Summary: Brilliant satire on popularity, jealousy and competition Review: This is nothing short of brilliant - in a microcosm of a small community high school we see the grand drama of popularity, over-achievement, jealousy, competition and corruption acted out as if it were Shakespearean tragedy - and there's the satire. Performances from Broderick and Witherspoon are right on the money. An extremely enjoyable, intelligent and truly funny film. Oscar-nominated screenplay but also deserved a nod in the editing department. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: We've all known people like these ... or have we? Review: ItÕs not easy watching a movie when you have such a hard time figuring out whom to hate and whom to love, right? Or wait a secondÑisnÕt this what life is pretty much like? YouÕll probably be reeling at first trying to side with someone in this brilliant gem of a movie. ThereÕs Tracy Flick of course, the annoying over-achiever. Then Mr. McAllister, the nice educator next door. Tammy the wicked lesbian. Paul the sweet, kind-hearted jockÑand heÕs about the only character youÕll feel the same about at the end of the movie as you did in the beginning. Complex and deep portaits are brought to life by a cast thatÕs as good as it gets (in my opinion, Matthew BroderickÕs finest performance yetÑas part of a cast that simply excels). On the surface, the plot is simple enough: Tracy Flick wants to be student council president at her high school real bad, and no one else seems to even want to compete with her. Mr. McAllister, one of her teachers, resents Tracy for reasons of his own that will seem self-evident at first but are far murkier than the viewer may think at this time. So he convinces Paul Metzler, a true sweetheart of a jock, to run against Tracy. Paul's adopted sister, Tammy, starts a campaign of her own soon after, and to tell you why would be giving too much away. On the home front, Mr. M. is busy trying to start a family with his wife and lending a helping hand to their neighbor Linda, who just went through a nasty separation. What could be nicer? In the course of these rather commonplace events, the personalities as presented at the outset start to either unravel or fall into place in a wild emotional roller coaster ride. YouÕll be coming back to this one and see new things every time you do. And youÕll continue to be startled, appalled, and touchedÑand of course, quite amused. If you like movies about real people and how complex they can be, donÕt pass on this one.
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