Election

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jeanine Jackson, Jessica Campbell

Directed by Alexander Payne

Based on a novel by Tom Perrotta

Music by Rolfe Kent

Cinematography by James Glennon

After being submitted to "American Pie", "Austin Powers", and "Something About Mary", we finally get a witty comedy that is well written, performed, and executed. With a few thematic updates, this film is reminiscent of the comedies of the late thirties and early forties. It's designed to entertain. I can't say that "Election" is a side splitting, roll in the aisle type of comedy but it is most definitely funny, intelligent, and with it's loopy plot, one is more than thoroughly entertained.

Watching the plot unfold is part of the fun so let me give you the basic premise. Matthew Broderick, in a brilliant understated performance, plays Jim McAllister, a High School teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. Jim likes being a teacher and is quite happy with his life until the election for the High School Student Body President begins. It seems that the only student running for the position is Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon), an overachieving student that McAllister detests. If she wins, McAllister is the teacher assigned to work with her for the upcoming year. Jim, under the guise that competition is needed, recruits a rather dim witted but popular athlete (Chris Klein) whose leg was broken during football season. This sets Tracy Flick into a rage and begins a series of events that literally unravels McAllister's life. Witherspoon's performance is nothing less that perfect as she bounces from a cold ambitious politician to a hysterical teenager with the ease of a seasoned professional. Effective supporting roles "kick" the film into high gear.

Director Alex Payne has cleverly made a smart comedy of ambition, corruption, lust, and desire without condescending to the "toilet" humor of recent Hollywood comedies. This film opened in LA around the same time as "American Pie" and "The Mummy". The teenage mainstream audience opted for the latter. This is sad because they would have had a far better time at "Election". Let's hope for an improved box office in its world release. Be assured that there's not an apple pie in sight.

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