Humorous but not outrageously funny, this rather dark comedy (at least I found it so) dealing with the politics of a an election for student council president is carried by decent enough performances from Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Broderick plays Jim McAllister, an earnest and well-meaning teacher who is responsible for overseeing the campaign, while Witherspoon is Tracey Flick, the whiney, over-achieving and over-zealous frontrunner who always - much to McAllister's dismay - gets everything her own way. And so, McAllister recruits the injured star of the school football team (Paul Metzler, played by Chris Klein) to run against her. Metzler is then himself challenged by his own sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell), who wants revenge against him because she feels he stole away from her the girl that she was in love with. Related to all this is the account of the devastating impact all these shenanigans have on McAlister's personal life.
Overall I liked this movie. The subplot around McAlister's troubled marriage was a part of that dark dimension I spoke of earlier, and added a serious touch to an otherwise rather silly story. There was also an ongoing and thought-provoking issue of the consequences that have to be faced when people abuse their authority and take advantage of those who are more vulnerable. In a sense, I guess, that has partly to do with why I only rate this movie a 6/10. I found it difficult to really like a movie that used an affair between a high school teacher (Dave Novotny, played by Mark Harelik) and a sophomore high school student (Witherspoon's character, who as a sophomore would have been 14 or 15?) as the opening to a comedy. I'm sure the intention wasn't to take such things lightly, but I thought the whole thing was a little bit in bad taste.
Setting that aside, though, "Election" is an enjoyable enough movie.
Overall I liked this movie. The subplot around McAlister's troubled marriage was a part of that dark dimension I spoke of earlier, and added a serious touch to an otherwise rather silly story. There was also an ongoing and thought-provoking issue of the consequences that have to be faced when people abuse their authority and take advantage of those who are more vulnerable. In a sense, I guess, that has partly to do with why I only rate this movie a 6/10. I found it difficult to really like a movie that used an affair between a high school teacher (Dave Novotny, played by Mark Harelik) and a sophomore high school student (Witherspoon's character, who as a sophomore would have been 14 or 15?) as the opening to a comedy. I'm sure the intention wasn't to take such things lightly, but I thought the whole thing was a little bit in bad taste.
Setting that aside, though, "Election" is an enjoyable enough movie.