If you're craving something like this from 1999, watch American Beauty instead! If you want to see young Reese Witherspoon, go for Legally Blonde which is only 2 years later! Election had it's comical moments but mainly laughing at how bad it is. Sadly, this was not what I expected.

whew....finally i've watched a movie where there is not one main character that i wanted to root for, just like this years election. everybodies got an agenda, everybody is out for themselves...except jock chris klein...but i wouldn't root for him either. plenty of laughs in this movie and you will not guess when they're coming...it just sort of comes..the funny scenes and you'll just laugh or giggle. this is a comedy for intelligent adults...not everybody will get it or like this movie although it is a brilliant one. this has to be witherspoons best performance or in the top 3 in her long career. let me just say that her freeze frame expressions are priceless...there's like 4 or 5 of them and miss witherspoon herself will have a hoot looking back at them. very very intelligent and cynical and just down right nasty business...the election that is...even in high school...one can imagine how bad it can get in the real presidential elections.

There is a layer of earnestness underneath the comic satire that is Election, and it is something that I did not initially pick up on. The stock high school comedy characters all all here; the hyperactive know it all student, the dumb quarterback, the moody depressed teen, the nerds, the creepy teacher. At first I found it hilarious that the teacher's face would be the one crumpled up in tears (and there is a great bit of misdirection with the loopy handwritten love note), but also surprising that the roles had been reversed and the adult had becomes the perceived victim (later we learn that Dave was a frequent bed wetter, even more prominently displaying this theme). But we trust what is supposedly Broderick's character, the good natured history teacher Jim, because his voice-over sounds so soothing, so mature. The slight of hand is gradual. Opposing him we have the bane of every teacher's existence, the enthusiastic Tracy Enid Flick, who busts up and down and on the spot at every question, hand firmly thrust up in the air. As if that was not annoying enough, it's even suggested that Jim blames her for seducing his former best friend, and is anxious that he is her next target, which is visualised by these seductive whispers in his mind, and speaks a lot more of him than her. Another technique that Payne likes to use is the sudden freeze frame, which warps Tracy's facial mannerisms into something ugly and demeaning, no doubt the same process that is churning away in Jim's mind, and dismissed her speech. Reese Witherspoon's performance is perfect - she toes the line between enthusiastic and annoying, but that line itself is warped from Broderick's perspective, and little actions become large annoyances. The screenplay is based on Tom Perrotta's novel, but Payne's vision is so much more appropriate for showing us just how lively these characters are. When Tracy first discovers Paul's campaign for student council, the soundtrack flares up like some Spaghetti Western with Morricone's Navajo Joe, and it is clear just how little she is used to being challenged, and Witherspoon's voice-over and the music both speed up in intensity as her angers grows. The same soundtrack later slows to a grinding halt as Jim proposes the widow Linda, and we like her are incredulous that our good guy image has been shattered. Broderick's stupid little grin is telling; he shoots for the little pleasures, and daydreams incessantly - in a green-screen sequence, he imagines himself driving a luxury Italian car, before the graceful backing track stops as he steps out onto the school parking lot. And on the pivotal election day, the music is once again key, the slow beats of the bass drum providing tension that would not be out of place before a large scale battle in some war film. Tracy seems to think so. We have the naivety of the teenagers pronounced via voice-over, with a complete sincerity that makes it funny but also a bit sad; Tracy insisting that she does not miss a father figure before perfectly describing one in Dave, Tammy musing on how she's not a lesbian even though every single one of her love interests have been female, Paul's various good natured ramblings about others and the gift of his penis...and of course his monotone, face- down speech delivered without an ounce of showmanship that Tracy possesses, but which Jim eagerly applauds anyway. And after it all? He is barely affected by the whole ordeal and has an awesome senior year. An early scene has Jim absent-mindedly tossing the food of his colleagues out of the teacher's fridge, with even less care for where it lands, splattering sauce onto the floor as the janitor shakes his head. Later, the same janitor is part of the visual assault on Jim as the cuts between their dead-straight stares speedily bore into Jim's conscience. Election's triumph is that it almost manages to make us feel a little for him; the breakdown of his marriage, the bee sting, the fury at Tracy's little celebration victory dance. And as he narrates his new life at the close, his happiness at being an educator, the new woman, and the modest yet lovable apartment, we think he is well adjusted, and content, and we are instinctively drawn to movie endings like this one. And he almost manages to fool us with his voice-over, his disappearance of contempt for Tracy Enid Flick. And for what? For tearing down a poster and denying it? For aiming further and higher than Jim will ever experience? His crusade becomes so sad and funny as he flees the scene, but I'm sure in his mind he has won.

In the first few minutes of Election we are introduced to the main characters and basically what each of them thinks about their daily lives and their purpose in life. One particular scene highlights one of the teacher's lessons as he tries to squeeze out the students's idea of morals and ethics. Perhaps an early insight into Alexander Payne's screen writing style, Election will look to test these ideas and how humanity uses them in practice. The backdrop for this basis is a student body election that will determine the next student council president. The early candidate is the ambitious Tracy Flick (Witherspoon), who will stop at nothing to guarantee a bright future. In charge of the election is Mr. McAllister (Broderick), who resents Tracy for getting his colleague and friend fired due to an inappropriate relationship. Given his sour feelings, McAllister will persuade a popular jock named Paul Metzler (Klein) to run against Tracy in an attempt to get revenge for his friend. From then on, madness will ensue as McAllister experiences work and family problems and Tracy deals with the challenge of having competition.Election is, in essence, an exercise of how a human being acts in order to achieve what they rightfully believe is the common good. The dynamic of the movie is mostly supported in the head-to-head between Tracy and Mr. McAllister, but also with other characters. In the end, both of them end up being completely misguided in their actions. With that being said, it's the movie's ending that confuses me the most. I must warn you here that this final analysis of the movie may lead you to predict the conclusion of the referred film, and if so, you probably should stop reading here. Continuing with the review, by the movie's wrap up, it seems that, despite everything that happened, all our characters seem to have surpassed this simple school election, and are now living the lives they planned for themselves. Although it doesn't necessarily spell out if they're truly happy, it feels kind of weird that the message I get from this story is that if you do something wrong, you'll end up being fine, something that I don't entirely believe, after completing this movie. Give it a try, and see what kind of ideas you get from it.Rating: 8/10