ELECTION RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie
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Actor Matthew Broderick finally comes full-circle after several failed attempts at a respectable career as a working actor in Hollywood, and becomes a teacher in high school, a role diametrically opposed to his most famous acting role to date, as the uncatchable student Ferris Bueller in 1986's classic John Hughes comedy FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (8/10). Anyone? Anyone??
PLOT: Overly ambitious student Tracey Flick is running for the student body presidency and will not let anybody stand in her way. Not her twelve-year veteran teacher Mr. M, not the most popular boy in high school who is also running for the political prize, nor his lesbian sister, the other nominee on the ballot.
CRITIQUE: Clever, somewhat predictable, stylish film features Reese Witherspoon's greatest performance to date as the most annoying overachiever that you'd ever NOT want to meet. Now despite generally enjoying this film, I could not help but compare it to (what seems like its male counterpart) the superior 1998 film, RUSHMORE (8/10), which featured a stronger performance by its co-star, Bill Murray, a more entertaining script, and many funnier moments. But since any direct comparison is inherently unfair, I would say that this film does succeed in its root of black comedy, with no huge laughs, an interesting plot, and several great performances, with Witherspoon's showing topping them all.
By its very nature, this scathing satire contains various contemptible characters who essentially think of no one but themselves, and create that sort of "Seinfeld" mentality in which the person making the least immoral mistakes will win, if only by default. The one character that did feature some conscientious behavior, the football playing popular-boy, struck me as too big of a moron to appreciate as a true character, but maybe that's just me. Too goofy, for my taste. One other thing to note is that this film is definitely a comedy for adults, not for kids! Some teenagers may appreciate it, but overall, me thinks this feature is geared towards the more cynical segment of our modern day adult population. All in all, a superb performance by Reese Witherspoon, a clever script, some funny moments, but ultimately too similar to RUSHMORE to appreciate as an original story (for me, that is).
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Actress Reese Witherspoon is currently engaged, and carrying the child of fellow actor Ryan Phillippe. Interesting little story about her from the IMDb, "Shortly after she started acting she had an audition for a role in CAPE FEAR (8.5/10). She was supposed to meet with Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese for the audition, but at the time didn't really know who they were. On the plane she was talking to the man next to her about her audition, and the man started to rave to her about DeNiro and Scorsese. This made her so nervous that she completely blew the audition and the role eventually went to Juliette Lewis." Matthew Broderick was at one time engaged to actress Helen Hunt, and another time, to actress Jennifer Grey. He has now been married to actress Sarah Jessica Parker since May 1997. For first-time movie actor Chris Klein, it was during his senior year at Millard West High School in Omaha that he literally bumped into director Alexander Payne as he was scouting Klein's high school as a possible location for ELECTION. After an audition for Payne, and only four weeks into his first semester at Texas Christian University where he is studying dramatic arts, Klein received the offer to star in ELECTION. It is also the first time acting gig for actress Jessica Campbell, who plays Chris Klein's sister in the movie. Her former acting coach asked writer/director Alexander Payne to take a look at Campbell's audition tape in consideration for a role in the film, subsequently landing one of the production's lead roles. Director Alexander Payne's first feature film was 1996's critically acclaimed CITIZEN RUTH. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Payne received B.A. degrees in history and Spanish literature from Stanford University. Payne then earned an M.F.A. from UCLA's prestigious filmmaking program. His thesis film, THE PASSION OF MARTIN, was screened at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival and more than 20 other festivals around the world. A couple of scenes in this film are in obvious homage to director Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO. This film is based on a novel of the same name by writer Tom Perotta. Actress Thora Birch left the filming in Omaha on her third day because of creative differences with director Alexander Payne.
Review Date: May 9, 1999
Director: Alexander Payne
Writers: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
Producers: Albert Berger, David Gale, Keith Samples and Ron Yerxa
Actors: Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick
Matthew Broderick as Jim McCallister
Chris Klein as Paul Metzler
Jessica Campbell as Tammy Metzler
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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