Election (1999)

A high school teacher's personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections, particularly with an obsessive overachiever determined to become student body president.

Director:

Alexander Payne

Writers:

Tom Perrotta (novel), Alexander Payne (screenplay)

Stars:

Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 16 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Broderick	...	Jim McAllister
Reese Witherspoon	...	Tracy Flick
Chris Klein	...	Paul Metzler
Jessica Campbell	...	Tammy Metzler
Mark Harelik	...	Dave Novotny
Phil Reeves	...	Walt Hendricks
Molly Hagan	...	Diane McAllister
Delaney Driscoll	...	Linda Novotny
Colleen Camp	...	Judith R. Flick
Frankie Ingrassia	...	Lisa Flanagan
Matt Malloy	...	Vice-Principal Ron Bell
Jeanine Jackson	...	Jo Metzler
Holmes Osborne	...	Dick Metzler
Loren Nelson	...	Custodian
Emily Martin	...	Girl in Crisis

Storyline

The high school Class President election is approaching and it looks like Tracy Flick is going to win, unopposed. However, teacher Jim McAllister has other plans. He convinces jock Paul Metzler to run, sparking off an interesting chain of events.

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | high school | overachiever | sex scene | election campaign | 

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Taglines:

Reading, Writing, Revenge.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, sex-related dialogue and language, and a scene of drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

Each of the three candidates have a fake Tiffany lamp on their bedside tables.

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Goofs

The ballot lists two students running for Secretary and three for Treasurer, but when the candidates are seated at the assembly awaiting the election results, there are three students sitting in each group.

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Quotes

Jim McAllister: Tracy, you're a very intelligent girl. You have a lot of admirable qualities. But one day maybe you'll learn that being smart and doing whatever you need to do to get ahead, and stepping on other people to get there... well, there's a whole lot more to life than that. And in the end you're only cheating yourself.
Tracy Flick: Why are you lecturing me?
Jim McAllister: This isn't the time or the place to get into it, but there is, for just one example, a certain former colleage of mine, who made a very big mistake, a life ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Film title logo appears when end credits are finished

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood's Top Ten: All About Politics (2011)

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Soundtracks

Foxey Lady
Written by Jimi Hendrix

User Reviews

Flick for President?

The Academy Award attention heaped on "Sideways" helped to make Alexander Payne a mainstream name among casual film goers, but many of us knew about his talent as a film maker long before. And his two more recent films--"Sideways" and "About Schmidt"--have been much gentler (thought still terrific) than his earlier efforts. Before "Election," Payne had already made "Citizen Ruth," a caustic, bracing satire of the abortion issue, and "Election" continued his penchant for harsh, uncomfortable comedy. I mean that in a good way, though. Payne's movies are funny, but they make you uneasy for laughing at them, and they have sharp, intelligent insights into the attitudes that drive American values.

In "Election," Payne uses a high school class presidential election as an opportunity to lampoon everything that's goofy about the American political system. Just as in our national elections for president, the winner is not necessarily the person with the most integrity, and honesty is a liability, not a virtue. The person who is willing to play dirtiest comes out on top, and elections aren't about who is most qualified but rather about who is most popular. And, the best part about the movie is its acknowledgement of voter apathy. Most Americans don't really give a damn, something that makes them not so different from the majority of high schoolers who don't even understand the point of having a class president to begin with. In fact, in the film's best scene, the assembly at which each candidate gives her/his campaign speech, one of the candidates (who joins the race out of spite) gets the best reception from the crowd when she encourages everyone not to vote at all.

Reese Witherspoon gives a wonderful performance as Tracy Flick, the school's most likely to succeed, whose goodie-goodie exterior hides the fact that she's willing to do just about anything to get ahead. Matthew Broderick is refreshingly unlikable as a social studies teacher who would like to see Tracy fail just once, until the fact that his own life is falling apart turns this wish into an obsession. And Chris Klein has some fun as the dopey, Jesus-following popular guy who becomes Tracy's arch rival, but never really even knows it.

Payne doesn't tidy up his film's moral messages. On the one hand, Tracy is obnoxious, and we want to see her fail as much as Broderick's character does. But she does know how to play the game, and isn't that part of what makes someone a good leader? We sympathize with Broderick up to a point, but his motives really are driven by a personal vendetta, not by any altruistic ideal of right vs. wrong. So if you normally need someone to root for in order to enjoy a movie, you're probably not going to like this one.

But who expects a hero?...I mean, come on, we're talking about American politics here.

Grade: A

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

7 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Election

Filming Locations:

16th St NW & H St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$119,080, 25 April 1999

Gross USA:

$14,902,041

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,902,041

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bona Fide Productions, MTV Films, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1