Election Blu-ray Edition
Election starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick turns high school politics on its head with plenty of adult based humor with plenty of wit.
Film making 18/25
Cinematography 18/25
Audio 15/25
Bonus Features 5/25
Total 56/100
Election is more about why not to have an affair and not about the high turmoil of high school politics but the movie is pretty good. Matthew Broderick plays high school teacher Jim McAllister who is in charge of the schools student council President.
Jims best friend, a fellow teacher is having an affair with Tracy and ends up getting caught and fired from his teaching job. No one in the school except the principal and Jim along with Tracy and her mother know about the affair thinking its best for everyone to keep it quiet.
Reese Witherspoon plays over ambitious Tracy Flick who wants nothing more than to excel at everything in school from the yearbook committee and the pinnacle position of president. She is such an overachiever that the teacher in charge of the student government, Jim McAllister wants to bring her down a notch when she is running unopposed and convinces another student to run against her.
Paul Metzler was the star football player until a severely broken leg takes him off the field for good and McAllister convinces him to head off into politics. Paul is an almost stupidly honest person and very humble wanting nothing more than to have good things happen to those around him and runs on the basis of his popularity.
When his sister Tammy, played by Jessica Campbell, who is having a lesbian affair with a friend sees the friend become lovers with Paul she extracts revenge by running against Paul and Tracy for president even though she is a Sophomore. The three way race for president seems pretty well tied between Paul and Tracy until Tammy rallies plenty of support on her side at a school assembly and tells the student body she will disband the student government as it is a waste of time and stop having assemblies.
Jim McAllister is having second thoughts about his lackluster life and trying to get his wife pregnant and suddenly turns his eyes toward his best friends exwife Linda. When they have a passionate affair and agree to rendezvous at a local motel Jim is extremely excited at the sudden turn of events in his life.
The day before the election he sets up the rendezvous by slipping out of class and getting a hotel room along with the customary bottle of champagne and box of chocolates. Jim rushes back to school and finishes the day to rush back to the his best friends old house to pick up Linda for their affair.
Jim does not find Linda at home and gets a bee sting near his eye that swell up badly for the rest of the movie as he chases around trying to find Linda. He ends up going home to find Linda talking to his wife and he sees that he is now in trouble for having the affair.
The next day after the election the ballots are counted by the voting committee and Mr. McAllister but he does not want to see Tracy win so he tosses two votes in the trash while the two students on the voting committee are busy reading papers. He tells the student that he came up with a different count so the three take the ballots to the principal where he counts them and gets the same as McAllister.
The election was close with Tracy having a one vote lead on Paul and Tammy having been disqualified for supposedly tearing down posters Paul and Tracy had put up in the halls. Tracy actually tore down the posters and threw them in a dumpster near the power plant that Tammy liked to hang out at and saw her dump the posters.
Tammy admitted to tearing down the posters to get back at her parents and hopefully have her sent to the local Catholic girl’s school where she would be free to check out all the girls herself. McAllister thinks all is well at school but his wife is still angry when he tries to go home but she slams the door in his face and he winds up back at the hotel to sleep alone.
A new day dawns bright and Jim swears to start off the next chapter of his life differently until he goes to school and is called in to the principals office. He is confronted by the principal, Tracy and her mother as well as the janitor who found the two ballots in the garbage. Earlier Jim had gotten the janitor angry when he spilled some food from the teacher’s fridge on the floor and apparently did not clean it up.
Jim is now out of a job as he simply resigned while Tracy goes on to be President of the Student council and then on to George Washington University after high school. Paul ends up going to college and partying a lot while his sister Tammy falls in love with another girl at the Catholic school.
Jim McAllister winds up moving to New York where he gets another “teaching” job at a museum as a tour guide/educator. His best friend is not quite as fortunate when they show is lot in life after his affair with a student by stocking groceries at a store.
Election has some very funny moments and others that are brilliant but overall there were a few very sad moments as well. Not sad like the dog died but for one the use of very adult language and terms was not just inappropriate but downright dumb to have in the film and seemed very out of place.
A couple of times language was used that seemed like they wanted to use it for the shock value and not the fact that it was appropriate at the time and place. It just seemed stupid to use it the way they did for the couple of time it happened and now I will move on with other comments.
Overall Election seemed more to me a comedy on what happens when you thwart the common sense of not having an affair and what can happen when you not only cheat n your spouse but cheat at your job. It did not seem too much like a comedy or darker humor about school politics even though it was there as well.
Election was pretty good and did have its shining moments but it also does have some very crude language and adult themes. The Blu-ray edition does not include any extras except the commentary by director Alexander Payne in the usually commentary while the movie is playing.
Election may be a 1999 movie but it does have some humor and laughs that are pretty much timeless and very appropriate for today as well. The Blu-ray edition does not contain enough to make the extra content a valuable purchase.