Review of Election (2005) by Aaron N — 22 Feb 2009

Jim McAllister: Paul, what is your favorite fruit?

Paul Metzler: Pears.

Jim McAllister: Okay, now...

Paul Metzler: No wait! Apples.

Jim McAllister: Great, now say that everyday you had an apple. An apple, an apple and more apples. You probably thought that apples were pretty good, even if you got a rotten one every once in awhile. Then one day there was an orange. Now you can choose, do you want an apple or do you want an orange? That's democracy.

Paul Metzler: I also like bananas.

Jim McAllister: ...Exactly.

Easily one of my favorite high school comedies. A very funny film about a high school election and the small war between a teacher and one of his brown nosing students.

Matthew Broderick stars as Mr. McAllister, a popular teacher at the school he works at. He's a good man who unfortunately crosses a line due to one of his students. This student is Tracy Flick, played by Reese Witherspoon. Tracy is a brain, focused purely on succeeding in life, by being better than everyone. As smart as she may be however, she's not exactly well liked and even had a part in getting one of McAllister's colleagues fired.

With the election approaching and Tracy running opposed, McAllister decides to get another student to also run in the election. This is Paul, a popular jock who has recently broken his leg. He is played to be wonderfully naive and likable by Chris Klein in his best role.

A final candidate is Paul's adopted and bitchy sister Tammy, who has just been dumped by her "girlfriend" for Paul.

Jim McAllister: Larry, we're not electing the fucking Pope here. Just tell me who won.

The film has all these characters serve as narrators, which works wonderfully, particularly from the students who are hilarious. The movie is very much about how strong the screenplay is. The dialog is very funny and very quotable. This includes the school's principal who gets a number of great moments.

The movie does a great job at standing out from other high school based movies, complete with its quirky style and various character moments that make it very fun to watch.

Tracy Flick: None of this would have happened if Mr. McAllister hadn't meddled the way he did. He should have just accepted things as they are instead of trying to interfere with destiny. You see, you can't interfere with destiny. That's why it's destiny. And if you try to interfere, the same thing's going to happen anyway, and you'll just suffer.