Review of Election (2005) by Kevin P — 11 Aug 2018

Strengths: I heard many great things about this movie. It was praised highly by most viewers, so I entered with high expectations. Reese Witherspoon (Tracy Flick) gives one of her finest early performances in this, living up to the hype. She's a fair amount of fun as a character you border on enjoying and disliking. Chris Klein (Paul Metzler) was also strong as the charismatic but kind of dumb guy she goes against. I liked the direction Alexander Payne took with this, as the election announcement was well set up and the film juggles several plotlines rather well.

Weaknesses: For being a highly touted comedy, I don't remember laughing even once. There's just not much that is funny. From the dialogue to the situations, it's just not very fun. Matthew Broderick (Jim McAllister) is only okay as the lead. Jessica Campbell (Tammy Metzler) plays a character who has an interesting setup, but not much delivery on it. The biggest issue, other than the lack of comedy, might be the fact that most of the characters show no real growth. Tracy doesn't seem to learn much from what happens and is still the same person at the end of the film. The same could be said for Jim. Even Paul goes on to just party all summer following an election race that should've seen him grow some.

Overall: There are a few fine acting performances and strong work by the director. However, it doesn't come close to making up for the lack of laughs and character growth. With no real comedy and no character arcs, there's not much to like.