Election

Greetings, ‘Election’ is a 1999 dark comedy film that was directed by Alexander Payne, the filmmaker who would later become known for directing ‘Downsizing’ in 2017 and modern Christmas favourite ‘The Holdovers’ in 2023. The screenplay, which was scripted by himself and Jim Taylor, was based upon a novel of the same name that was written by Tom Perotta and was released a year before the movie debuted. The story of ‘Election’ didn’t end there as Perotta published a sequel to his hit book named ‘Tracy Flick Can’t Win’ some decades later in 2022. The latest novel focuses on the breakout character of the first instalment. The 90s film stars Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein and the late Jessica Campbell in the main roles. Supporting cast includes Molly Hagan, Delaney Driscoll and Phil Reeves. The soundtrack was composed by Rolfe Kent who was involved in numerous notable works such as ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’, ‘Freaky Friday’ and ‘Thank You For Smoking’.

The plot is set in a Nebraskan High School and the titular ‘election’ is for the student government president which most pupils are understandably unenthusiastic about. There is one student who can’t be described as unenthusiastic. That pupil is Tracy Flick, an ambitious high achiever, who is being encouraged to excel academically by her equally driven mother. Running unopposed, Tracy is guaranteed to get the presidential position. This is much to the distaste of her US History and Civics teacher who is named Jim McAllister. Jim is able to hide his dislike of Tracy who he finds to be an annoying ‘know it all’ but the cause of his ill feeling goes further than that. Some months prior to the election, his best friend and a fellow teacher at the school called Dave became smitten with Tracy and entered into a romantic relationship with her. The relationship was eventually discovered. It resulted in Dave being fired, divorced from his wife and relocating to another part of the country while Tracy suffered no fallout. Jim recognised that Dave, being the adult in the situation, was in the wrong but he was irked by how Tracy continued as if nothing had happened while he lost a valued friend.

The reasons behind McAllister’s discomfort is deeper still. Struggling to conceive a child with his spouse, Jim has confused sexual fantasies about Tracy and realises if she wins the presidency that he will be spending a lot more time with her. Fearing he could be seduced down the same path that ruined his best friend’s life, Jim plots against Tracy by enticing the dim-witted football player Paul Metzler to throw his hat in the ring. Since he broke his leg in a skiing accident, Paul has a lot of free time on his hands and is excited to apply himself during the campaign which gets under Tracy’s skin. Another shock candidate comes on to the scene as Tammy Metzler, the adopted sister of Paul, announces her bid to spite her brother. Unbeknownst to Paul, Tammy had a secretive girlfriend who had broken up with her after denouncing their relationship as an experimental fling and started dating him instead. Tammy has no interest in the election and delivers a fiery speech promising to dissolve the whole student government should she be elected. Her proposal is met with rapturous applause by her fellow students which sends the teaching staff into a panic, confuses the hurt but good natured Paul and rattles the picture perfect Tracy.

I knew very little about ‘Election’ before going into it but I can confidently say that it is easily one of the best films I have seen in quite a long time. It never dragged once and kept me entertained from the opening titles to the closing credits. Part of the reason for this high praise is that the characters, in particular Tracy and Jim, feel very realistic and resemble people the audience could cross paths with in the real world. A lot of this is thanks to the stellar work of the actors and actresses involved, specifically Witherspoon’s transformation into the uptight Tracy. Payne and Witherspoon are due to collaborate once again as there are plans to adapt the sequel novel into a follow up movie which I am interested in seeing once it has been released. I’m also keen to read the two books as well, seeing how the original compares to the movie, and checking out more of Payne’s directorial efforts.

Plot=10/10

Characters=10/10

Special Effects=10/10

Overall=10/10

Quote of the Day

Charles, I will not stop living and breathing art just because you need to relax. I'm here with you. I will live with you in this hellhole, but I must express myself. If you don't let me gut out this house and make it my own, I WILL GO INSANE AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!!!

Delia Deetz

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