Rating:

The Info

Directed by: Alexander Payne
Written by: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell
Produced by: Albert Berger, David Gale, Keith Samples, Ron Yerxa

The Nutshell

A social studies teacher has his life turned upside down by an ambitious student during student council elections.

The Review

    Election, the new comedy from Alexander Payne, is the year's most witty and intelligently written film. It combines an original story, realistic characters and a great cast to create a film about ambition and the price people must pay to have it. Using the annual school council elections of a high school, Election represents the need instilled in many of us to be the best. People who are ruthless in their professional lives may find themselves questioning the intensity of their climb to the top, taking a step back to reflect.

    Election reminds you of your time in high school, thanks to characters who could be pulled from the pages of anyone's yearbook. There's the keener, that one student who would always know the answer and always put their hand up to answer it. There's the jock who is rather dim yet who is somehow friends with everyone. There's that one girl who always wore black and was considered "weird". There are also the teachers who have been teaching the exact same course for years, watching the students come and go, while they remain.

    This is primarily the story of Tracy Flick, as told through the flashbacks and voiceovers of the various people involved in this year's elections. Among them are Jim McAllister, Tracy's social studies teacher and counsellour to the Student Council President, Paul Metzler, a popular jock who is convinced by Mr. McAllister to run opposite Tracy, and Paul's sister Tammy, who also runs in the election.

    Tracy is ambition personified. She is the president of every club, editor of the yearbook and wants desperately to add Student Council President to her resume. She has high aspirations for her future, and knows that hard work is needed now to prepare for the inevitable greatness down the road. At first, Tracy runs unopposed for the presidency, but soon has competition in the form of Paul, and later Tammy Metzler. Paul is pushed into running by Jim McAllister, who dreads the thought of working with Tracy for an entire year. Jim watched his best friend and fellow teacher Dave get seduced by Tracy's maturity and lose his job over it, and doesn't relish the idea of that happening to him.

    Writers Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor give Election's wonderful characters a dark side. McAllister is a troubled man who has sexual problems with his wife, sneaks downstairs at night to watch pornographic movies, and fantasizes about his best friend's wife and Tracy Flick. You feel he is going to self-destruct at any moment. McAllister has real problems, and Matthew Broderick ably brings them to the screen. Tracy Flick has a devious, ruthless side that she can't always conceal. Reese Witherspoon steals the show as Tracy, displaying a knack for comedy that went unused in her previous film Pleasantville. Chris Klein has the only wholly "good" character as Paul Metzler. Metzler's innocent desire to be president shows in his childish poster slogans (Metzler? You Betzler!) and his speech to the student body. As the secretly gay Tammy Metzler, Jessica Campbell harbours a spiteful need to get back at her former lover, who goes out with her brother Paul to hurt her. Tammy gets into all kinds of trouble with her anti-election election campaign, yet Jessica Campbell gives her the most heart of any character in the film.

     The path that Election follows is original and entertaining. The film reveals the story of Tracy's run for election bit by bit, and with each new piece of the tale, we are pleasantly surprised. The characters of Jim and Tracy are changed by the course of action they take, with an ending that is perfectly fitting. Election is a tale about ambition, revenge and the need to win. More importantly, it is about the loneliness that can result from being on top.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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