ELECTION
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: An on-target satire and dark comedy
about politics set around a high school student
council election. An award-winning teacher tries
to make sure the school's most successful student
does not run unopposed for council president. The
result is disaster for several people. Don't be
put off by the fact the film is about a high school
election. This film has some of the best writing
of any film so far this year. This is an
intelligent, irritating and in its own way
delightful comedy about politics in America.
Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high +2 (-4 to +4)
The time is coming for student council elections at Carver High School. Unopposed for president is Tracy Flick (played by Reese Witherspoon) the school's smug and snotty over-achiever. This is the girl who seems to be in every school club, on every school committee. Everyone knows that she is the best and nobody tries to compete with her. What few people know is that she also was instrumental in the firing of a teacher for a sexual misconduct in which she was considerably more than a willing victim. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is the star teacher of the school, having won the Teacher of the Year Award a record three years in a row. He also was a friend of the fired teacher. Partially because he knows that the indiscretion was not all the teacher's fault, and partially as a lesson in democratic principles to his students, Mr. McAllister decides to try to see if he can whip up some competition for Tracy. The idealistic civics teacher convinces Paul Metzler, a likeable jock sidelined by a broken leg, to run against Tracy. He is the exact opposite of Tracy. Less than bright in his studies he is nevertheless a nice person with lots of friends. Soon there is a surprise third counter-culture candidate running for reasons of her own and collecting the vote of all the disaffected of the school. This small beginning leads to chaos that engulfs several people's lives, not the least of which is Mr. McAllister's.
ELECTION is a film that looks like it was shot in 16 millimeter and blown up for the full sized screen. The production values overall seem to have been designed for economy. About the only place it excels is that it has a really good script. I call that a pretty good tradeoff. In spite of the modest production budget co-writer and director Alexander Payne has managed to do some things extraordinarily well. The lower-middle class is rarely shown in other films. Character's homes shown in films tend to be wither upscale or on the level of trailer parks. Yet the housing developments with their sparse vegetation strike a really believable note. In fact the whole set of inexpensive production values tend to make this film seem all the more realistic. Payne's only previous feature film was CITIZEN RUTH, itself not a bad social satire. But ELECTION shows a considerable improvement.
With the exception of the two leads, most of the cast has little film experience, yet the acting in the film seems perfectly professional. Matthew Broderick seems a little young for the role of the teacher, but that could be just because he himself seems boyish. Reese Witherspoon may well find that this is a defining role in her early career. While she did not seem to bring any special talents to her role in PLEASANTVILLE she is just perfect as the smug and totally self-absorbed, over-achieving, Monica-Lewinsky-in-training. ELECTION is a satire of the caliber of Michael Ritchie's SMILE. That puts it miles ahead of recent entries like WAG THE DOG. SMILE and ELECTION would, in fact, make an excellent double feature. I give ELECTION an8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1999 Mark R. Leeper
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