Election is a very difficult movie to classify and review. With staple actors from the teen pulp genre, like Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein, it would be easy to write it off as merely another school holiday flick. However, the issues dealt with include sexual relationships between teacher and student, and marital infidelity; subjects more suited to adult fare.
The story is centred around an ambitious and perfect student (Witherspoon), and the teacher (a woefully miscast Matthew Broderick - stick to the slapstick, buddy) who decides to meddle with destiny and stop the rise and rise of Tracy Flick. His solution? To persuade another, more popular student to run against Tracy in the all-important election for student president. What he doesn't foresee is how the election will change his own life forever.
It is a comedy that works very well in some places. Never again will one be able to consider a cupcake, without thinking of the 280 "Pick Flick" personalised cupcakes. And the collection of sports jocks, nerds and sundry other students, whilst highly stereotypical, are good for a few laughs. It is when the movie *tries* to be funny that it fails. A bit of special-effects make-up slapped on to resemble a bee-stung eyelid isn't all that amusing, and seems out of character with the rest of the film. Another notable aspect is the voiceovers done by the characters. These are funny and very clever, in that the viewer gets a lot more by reading between the lines, than taking what is said at face value.
Election is certainly worth a watch on an idle Saturday afternoon. But don't be surprised if, at the end, you are unable to decide if you enjoyed it or not.
The story is centred around an ambitious and perfect student (Witherspoon), and the teacher (a woefully miscast Matthew Broderick - stick to the slapstick, buddy) who decides to meddle with destiny and stop the rise and rise of Tracy Flick. His solution? To persuade another, more popular student to run against Tracy in the all-important election for student president. What he doesn't foresee is how the election will change his own life forever.
It is a comedy that works very well in some places. Never again will one be able to consider a cupcake, without thinking of the 280 "Pick Flick" personalised cupcakes. And the collection of sports jocks, nerds and sundry other students, whilst highly stereotypical, are good for a few laughs. It is when the movie *tries* to be funny that it fails. A bit of special-effects make-up slapped on to resemble a bee-stung eyelid isn't all that amusing, and seems out of character with the rest of the film. Another notable aspect is the voiceovers done by the characters. These are funny and very clever, in that the viewer gets a lot more by reading between the lines, than taking what is said at face value.
Election is certainly worth a watch on an idle Saturday afternoon. But don't be surprised if, at the end, you are unable to decide if you enjoyed it or not.