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    		•

    FILMS

    Election (1999)
  • Starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon

  • Directed by Alexander Payne

    • In a presidential election year, when our thoughts turn to campaigning and voting for a new leader of the free world, this satirical film about a high-school student council campaign is particularly timely.

    Director Alexander Payne's award-winning film stars Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Inspector Gadget) as Jim McAllister, a popular teacher in a Nebraska high school who is secretly annoyed with one of his students, the perky and peppy and perfect Tracy Flick, primly played by Reese Witherspoon (Cruel Intentions, Pleasantville).

    Many critics thought Witherspoon should have picked up a Best Actress Oscar nomination (she won the National Society of Film Critics top honor).

    Tracy is running unopposed for the head of the student council (with the slogan "Pick Flick!") when McAllister decides to rig the election, insuring that overachieving Tracy loses. As the story progresses, Jim McAllister's desperation turns him into a man whose ambition far exceeds his abilities.

    This dark comedy is a must-see for anyone who remembers their old high-school teachers as objective, well-meaning adults with nothing but your best interests at heart.

    Payne and his Election co-scriptwriter Jim Taylor were also responsible for another overlooked satire, 1996's Citizen Ruth, which lampooned both sides of the abortion debate.

    (Originally published in Satellite Direct magazine, September 2000.)

    Addendum: Obviously I wrote this review right before the Great Bush/Gore Election War of 2000. It's a bit dated, but still fairly accurate. If you don't mind watching a movie where you will cringe in embarrassment for the main character (in this case, Broderick) then this is the movie for you. I enjoyed it as a dark comedy, but I squirmed in my seat when things started going bad for Broderick. And the bee-sting ... ouch! That just looks painful.