Election Review
by "Roger Gerbig" (rgerbig AT thegrid DOT net)May 13th, 1999
"ELECTION" - A Thumbs For Sale! Review
w/ MATTHEW BRODERICK, REESE WITHERSPOON, CHRIS KLEIN
DIR: ALEXANDER PAINE
Maybe consciously I was simply avoiding any film with even the vaguest hint of cyber-anything. Or perhaps unconsciously I'm hopelessly stuck on titles that begin with the letter "E" (as in last week's review of "Entrapment"). Whatever the case, I'm not the least bit sorry I chose to duck in out of the sun and catch a Saturday afternoon matinee of "Election."
Senior Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) is the reigning Miss Apple Pie of the Free World. Everything she wants, she pretty much gets. And everything she gets, she pretty much deserves. So, getting elected president of the student body should be little more challenging than copping a smoke in the girls room in between third and fourth period. At least that's the way she sees it.
Of course, being quite the perfect specimen (she's the type who on at least one occasion probably wore her 4-H ribbons pinned to her cardigan for school pictures), she's got ten perfect little toes, all of which are just waiting to be stepped on.
Enter Jim McAllister (Broderick), three-time educator of the year and student council advisor. He's got a wife he can't seem to get pregnant, lust in his heart for the divorcee who lives across the street, an aging Ford Festiva (one of the greatest self-esteem killing auto designs in the history of motorized transportation), and a nascent disgust with Ms. Flick.
Expect the shenanigans to begin momentarily.
When the Man Who Was Once Ferris declares war, you suddenly realize you're in for one heck of an interesting ride. Director/co-writer Payne and cast absolutely bond to create one of the more piercing satires in recent memory. The script is so streamlined that it's no less than positively aerodynamic. Not a single moment isn't accounted for as the pieces of the puzzle come together. Big laughs emerge from around unexpected corners. The allegory at hand is firmly anchored by a foundation so sturdy it must have been constructed by union labor. Not to mention the casting director deserves no less than a State Dinner at the White House.
Witherspoon is so perfect as Flick that at one point I feared she might slap me upside the head with an apple pie. The shear depth of her unctuousness will forever make you think twice about accepting a complimentary cupcake from anyone less than your best friend. If she burst into tears within earshot, you'd cross a street during rush hour without looking both ways to offer her a shoulder to cry on. As student body president, she would undoubtedly wield enough power to convince the lot of us to chuck pizza and pay more attention to getting in our three squares a day.
Broderick thoroughly becomes quite the slightly downtrodden proletarian next door. But the moment he senses his big chance to really "make a difference," that malicious demeanor he perfected all those years ago as Ferris Bueller takes on a whole new dimension. While it's safe to say all the characters here are somewhat flawed in character, he is in many ways the most believable.
The rest of the cast is filled out mostly by first-timers and unknowns. Chris Klein as a Keanu Reeves Jr. clone more than proves that a thoroughly vapid aptitude shouldn't stop one from running for office. Jessica Campbell as his sister, the third candidate in the run for the roses, clearly illustrates that getting a little political during your tender sophomore year really isn't a bad thing--especially if having vaguely diabolical leanings are an integral part of your fabric. And finally, Phil Reeves as the hapless ringmaster--er--principal... No need to say more here; he's a walking laugh factory.
Payne and collaborator Jim Taylor have successfully mined the fields of political satire once before with "Citizen Ruth" (1996), which I coincidentally just caught on video a couple weeks ago. While that little morality tale about the tug-of-war between pro-life and pro-choice fronts was entertaining enough, it was in many ways more interesting than effective. "Election" is quite the quantum step forward.
For all practical purposes, "Election" is a civics lesson with one big advantage over your rank-and-file lesson plan; it's built-in fun factor is actually worth dropping a few bucks to check out.
©1999 Roger Gerbig
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