Review of Election (1999) by Benjamin F — 30 Jul 2011

My only prior exposure to Alexander Payne's work before watching Election was in Sideways and his short film in Paris Je T'aime. I enjoyed both of those, and so I went in expecting to enjoy Election as well. As my overall score for the film signifies, I did indeed.

The film's cast had plenty of talent. It was interesting seeing Matthew Broderick playing a hypocrite of a teacher of sorts after his turn as Ferris Bueller thirteen years prior. Reese Witherspoon turned one of her more memorable performances I've seen so far as well, at times endearing, and otherwise absurdly driven to the point of seeming mad. Chris Klein plays a pretty good-natured jock - not the brightest bulb in the box, but the character's written in a way that makes him difficult to dislike, as one of the less complex main characters. Just dim. Freaks and Geeks' Jessica Campbell turned an entertaining role as Klein's character's vindictive lesbian sister. The rest of the supporting cast is fine as well.

Payne's direction work is strong throughout, and the score and soundtrack are fine and suit the film well, though I didn't remember them afterward. The cinematography works well throughout the film too, and there are a few particularly nice shots of a power plant at night that have stayed with me since I finished the film. From a technical standpoint, the film was made with complete competence.

Election is, in many regards, what Glee started out as back in 2009, minus the singing. An adult audience oriented satirical comedy, with a lot of edgy black humor. And overall, Election is easily better than the entirety of Glee, which lost its teeth and largely turned into something embarrassingly clumsy and often outright bad after the first half of the first season, when they basically ran out of plot and turned the show into a weird mix of preachy after school special, wish fulfillment writing by the show's creator, really clumsy comedy with no real edge, and dull auto-tuned musical with references to the current flavor of the month. Election doesn't lose its teeth at any point, and while it explores its themes of questioning just what ethics and morality are - and how they're different - nearly all of the principal characters have times when you dislike them, just as there are times when you sympathize with them and enjoy their screen presence. The film jumps back and forth between the characters being likable and aggravating successfully, and takes the viewer into comedy territory with its character writing where most films aren't too comfortable going, wanting you to empathize with the characters at all times instead of treating them more like complicated human beings. You can't like everybody all of the time, after all. Still, at times, the film's darker edge goes a little off the rails into crazier territory at times and doesn't always work perfectly. But it does work most of the time, and overall, it's a very funny, legitimately smart movie.

In a sense, Election is kind of like an anti-John Hughes film. Where Hughes tends to leave you with warmer feelings and genuine affection for his films' characters, Payne leaves you with mixed feelings on everybody at the end of Election. Nobody is really a hero or villain in this story, every character's motivations are grounded in reasoning that works, even as absurd as they can be at times - like when Reese Witherspoon's Tracy obsesses over getting elected school president when it's a relatively trivial goal, and Broderick's Mr. McAllister does things you'd expect him to know better than as an adult, the bulk of the film's humor coming from inappropriate human behavior in general - and no one ends up soaring to great heights or ends up horribly miserable in the end. As absurd as the entire film is, no one's reduced to being a cartoon character, and the ending works well for what it is. You have a film set in high school here that isn't really about growing up or learning something, so much as characters that come off as believable human beings a good bit of the time getting drawn into ridiculous circumstances and events, a high school election at the center of it all, and losing their better judgment at every turn. Election isn't a movie for everyone, and it isn't flawless, certainly, but it's a very funny, worthwhile dark comedy. Definitely recommended.