Election Reviews

I had heard several great things about Election, and when I saw the film for myself I can totally see the praise for the film. It is filmed and directed beautifully, and the soundtrack is cool. The story is strong with a good structure without being too simplistic or complicated and doesn't fall into the predictability trap, and the humour is just great, there is some clever black humour but there is also some room for some quirkiness as well. The characters are engaging, even Reese Witherspoon's and I can understand where some are coming from when they say she is annoying. This is Matthew Broderick's most likable character since Ferris Bueller in my opinion. Both Broderick and Witherspoon give some of their best work here, and Chris Klein is a welcome presence without overdoing the humour or feeling out of place. All in all, a fantastic movie. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Initial Thought: I have been fairly curious about this one lately. I have seen it on a few lists even. I do adore some Reese Witherspoon. That's pretty much the main reason I'm going to go ahead and check this out now.

Characters/Acting: Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon in one movie! I've always liked both of them. So to see them together here is pretty neat. I guess it should have been obvious that Matthew Broderick plays the teacher, but before watching this I thought he was a student against Reese's character. Reese Witherspoon plays sociopathic so well. It also kind of makes her even more adorable here. Chris Klein is a goofball and usually I don't care for him too much. I did like his character her though. Matthew Broderick gives a pretty good performance as expected. All the characters here are quite eccentric.

Story: A high school teacher's personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections. I find it hilarious how some of the scenes pause on some really goofy faces. It's obviously intentional and it works. This is a dark comedy so at times you life and sort of feel uncomfortable for doing so. I liked all the fourth wall breaking stuff. That always amuses me for some reason. The ending was amusing.

Directing/Writing: I wasn't aware this was based off of a novel. I guess it makes sense though. Tom Perrotta also wrote the book Little Children is based off of. I've never watched it, but I have heard of it. Alexander Payne takes on the role of director and co-writer here. As a director I haven't seen his work until this. As a writer I have seen I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry as well as Jurassic Park III (both of which I enjoyed). Jim Taylor seems to work with him often as the same credits apply for him as a writer too.

Final Thought: I thought it was a fun little movie dealing with school politics. It has one of my now favorite Reese Witherspoon performances so far. It was worth a one time look. Beyond that though I probably wouldn't watch it again.

Election is among many of Reese Witherspoon's brilliant performances. It's an excellent comedy for adults.

This is one of those films that not too many know about but they definitely need to. Tammy Metzler was the perfect opposition for the Tracy Flick character in the film.

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. The interesting thing about this flick was above all to see Reese Witherspoon who, before starring in all those (boring) romantic comedies, showed up in this highschool satire. Honestly, I was expecting a little more but I must admit, it was still pretty good. Indeed, Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein were all perfectly cast and they all gave some really good performances. Furthermore, if you compare it to all those generic comedies taking place in highschool, this one was really original and gave a really different point of view with some pitch black humor. Still, in my opinion, the whole thing never really reached its full potential and maybe they should have gone all the way into the dark humor, I don't know. The fact that I didn't care much about the characters and their predicament didn't much help either, I guess. Still, it is definitely a funny and original high-school based comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something different starring Reese Witherspoon.

This film is a pitch-perfect gem that flew under the radar when it was first released. The plot is straight forward: high school student body election, the beloved teacher who's personal life is unraveling behind the scenes, the popular jock, his lesbian sister who emerges as a cult hero, and the overachieving mastermind who plans to win the election no matter what the cost. There's excellent acting all around, and add to this satire and black humor, pitch black humor, the result is a small but brilliant film that juggles satire with high school (and there's really no more fun that that) that takes a certain kind of humor to stomach.