Election

High-school comedies became popular because the milieu was familiar to a large proportion of the film-going audience… But the best examples of the genre in the 1980s and 1990s satirized not only the constant battle of the sexes, but other elements in American life… The frequent struggles between jocks and nerds were a kind of microcosm of the class difference which is supposed not to exist in the United States…

In "Election," one of the best examples of this popular genre, much of the humor is at the expense of the 'democratic' process… The film's guiding insight is that in practice democracy reduces to a popularity contest, in which dirty tricks are the norm…

Tracy is a Nebraskan high-school blonde who is brilliant and hard-working… She is standing for election as student president… Played by Reese Witherspoon, Tracy is bright and intolerant, eaten up by ambition and her ruthless determination to win… She is regarded with disgust by a career teacher and student adviser, Jim McAllister, for her self-righteousness, and also for her role in the dismissal of his fellow teacher Dave after a sex scandal… Jim encourages student football star Paul to stand against Tracy

For some reason, this film has always brought a laugh to the bottom of stomach. Some people may call it boring due to the fact its not some gross-out teen comedy, but this is really the antithesis of a great satire. One can't see the scaly nature of politics simply because its always drowned in newspeak and bad reporting. But to see it at this level of understanding, it proves to be quite entertaining. It also provides a precursor to our most recent (2000) election. We have the longtime politician, the incompetent who people like, and the iconoclast who wants to shake up government. And of course, there is the cheating regulator who gets the wrong person elected for his own slimy means. Who would have guessed life would imitate art. A great film for all to see. Matthew Broderick is at his best, Reese Witherspoon really sells her role, and I actually tolerated Chris Klein's role in this film.

"Dear Lord Jesus," prays Tracy Flick the night before the election for student body president, "I do not often speak with you and ask for things, but now, I really must insist that you help me win the election tomorrow because I deserve it and Paul Metzler doesn't, as you well know. I realize that it was your divine hand that disqualified Tammy Metzler and now I'm asking that you go that one last mile and make sure to put me in office where I belong so that I may carry out your will on earth as it is in heaven. Amen."

Tracy (Reese Witherspoon) is an overachieving senior in suburban George Washington Carver High School (where the student body is all white). What Tracy wants, she gets, using a combination of single-minded hard work, bright smiles as phony as a television infomercial, eager volunteering and a ruthlessness that varies between chirpiness and squinted eyes. As Tracy says, quoting her Mom, "The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong."

Then one of Tracy's teachers, Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) decides the world needs to be saved from Tracy. He talks one of the school's popular football athlete's to run against Tracy. From now on Jim has his hands full trying to sabotage Tracy's relentless campaign, impregnate his wife, convince himself his next door neighbor, a recent divorcée, is really going to understand him if they can only check into a motel for a couple of hours...and deal with the consequences of everything he set in motion.

Election, written and directed by Alexander Payne, is one of the funniest, darkest satires of human behavior since Jonathan Swift recommended that the poor should simply sell their children to be eaten by the rich. There are a lot of teenagers in this movie, but it's not just another teen-age movie. We're looking at the ludicrous depths to which ambition and good intentions, when mixed with politics, can take us. If that seems ponderous, it's about as ponderous as Tracy Flick's mom writing compulsively to people like Connie Chung and Elizabeth Dole asking for advice. (Never give up on your dreams is the usual reply.)

The script moves from the exaggerated to the outlandish with great style. The actors deliver the goods with deadpan sincerity and self-serving honesty. Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick hits the bull's-eye with unnerving accuracy. She is so sincere in her insincerity, which is, in Tracy Flick's own way, completely sincere, that Witherspoon makes us smile and shudder at the same time. As outstanding as she is, Matthew Broderick is the heart of the movie. Jim McAllister is part lech, part nebbish, but mostly good guy. It's a funny, almost poignant performance. Payne's script and Broderick's acting give us a perfect ending that's just as brittle, cool and amusing as the rest of the movie.

I like Election a lot. I hope as time passes the movie isn't forgotten.

The Academy Award attention heaped on "Sideways" helped to make Alexander Payne a mainstream name among casual film goers, but many of us knew about his talent as a film maker long before. And his two more recent films--"Sideways" and "About Schmidt"--have been much gentler (thought still terrific) than his earlier efforts. Before "Election," Payne had already made "Citizen Ruth," a caustic, bracing satire of the abortion issue, and "Election" continued his penchant for harsh, uncomfortable comedy. I mean that in a good way, though. Payne's movies are funny, but they make you uneasy for laughing at them, and they have sharp, intelligent insights into the attitudes that drive American values.

In "Election," Payne uses a high school class presidential election as an opportunity to lampoon everything that's goofy about the American political system. Just as in our national elections for president, the winner is not necessarily the person with the most integrity, and honesty is a liability, not a virtue. The person who is willing to play dirtiest comes out on top, and elections aren't about who is most qualified but rather about who is most popular. And, the best part about the movie is its acknowledgement of voter apathy. Most Americans don't really give a damn, something that makes them not so different from the majority of high schoolers who don't even understand the point of having a class president to begin with. In fact, in the film's best scene, the assembly at which each candidate gives her/his campaign speech, one of the candidates (who joins the race out of spite) gets the best reception from the crowd when she encourages everyone not to vote at all.

Reese Witherspoon gives a wonderful performance as Tracy Flick, the school's most likely to succeed, whose goodie-goodie exterior hides the fact that she's willing to do just about anything to get ahead. Matthew Broderick is refreshingly unlikable as a social studies teacher who would like to see Tracy fail just once, until the fact that his own life is falling apart turns this wish into an obsession. And Chris Klein has some fun as the dopey, Jesus-following popular guy who becomes Tracy's arch rival, but never really even knows it.

Payne doesn't tidy up his film's moral messages. On the one hand, Tracy is obnoxious, and we want to see her fail as much as Broderick's character does. But she does know how to play the game, and isn't that part of what makes someone a good leader? We sympathize with Broderick up to a point, but his motives really are driven by a personal vendetta, not by any altruistic ideal of right vs. wrong. So if you normally need someone to root for in order to enjoy a movie, you're probably not going to like this one.

But who expects a hero?...I mean, come on, we're talking about American politics here.

Grade: A

James McAllister is a contented high school teacher who is presiding over the elections for school president this year. However, the only student running for the position is the overly keen Tracey Flick – a driven student who he feels is callous and blames for his best friend being fired for falling in love with her. Desperate to prevent her becoming president, James convinces injured jock Paul to run, prompting Paul's love-scorned sister to also stand. Where once the presidency was a good clean-cut race, Tracey takes the competition badly, and it descends into something a lot more sinister.

I wasn't totally sure about this film but I had heard good things about it and, even though the fact that it was an MTV Production put me off a bit, I decided to give it a try. The film is quite clever for the most part and takes the worn genre and clichés of high school movies and makes them into a quite good little political satire of sorts – albeit one that is rather downbeat at times. The comedy is not laugh out loud funny and maybe that's a problem, but I enjoyed the parallels with modern politics (and sexual issues) and found it to make some good points in a funny way. Of course the end is rather downbeat but only because it is sadly believable.

I must say that I was rather put off by a couple of different things. The first was the amount of sexual material in the film – not a real problem but I was a little put off by how graphically the subject of underage sex was dealt with. This was a minor problem (if you can pardon the pun!) but what I found a little worrying was Payne's apparent misogynistic touch on the film – all the men were hapless saps and the women held the real power all the way; I'm not saying this is not true but Payne has little sympathy for his female characters and they may come off better overall but there is no love lost for them.

The cast opens with an amusing bit of role reversal that sees everyone's favourite high school student become a teacher in the shape of Matthew Broderick. Hardly having the best run of roles for a while, he is actually pretty good here even if some of what happens to his character doesn't seem to fit very well. Witherspoon is annoying but the difference here is that it is intentional! She easily fits into the character and her role has a great touch to it – I'm not saying it is easy to enjoy her performance but she is good. Klein does his usual dumb jock thing but is fortunate that he has the material to support (this time) but I felt Campbell was left with a sympathetic character that was placed on the sidelines too much.

Overall I enjoyed this film but it had its limitations. It isn't hilariously funny as many coming to this genre may expect but it is quite cleverly written. The story struggles a bit as it goes along, with threads left hanging that stop it being as tight as it maybe could have been but generally I enjoyed it but can see why some others have problems with it.