| Election | | Cast : | Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon | | Director : | Alexander Payne | | Studio : | Paramount Studio | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | May 07, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | June 24, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | Funny, a bit crude, and closer to reality than we'd like to think. | Content
 | Reese Witherspoon plays Tracy Flick, a straight-A go-getter intent on becoming student body president at Carver High School, no matter what the cost. And the cost proves very high, indeed, after mild-mannered civics teacher Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) enlists dim-bulb football hero Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against Flick. Adding to the chaos is a the last-minute candidacy of Metzler's lesbian sister, whose tell-it-like-it-is counter-cultural campaign draws the ire of school administrators even as it draws cheers from her fellow students.
Broderick is wonderful as Mr. McAllister, the well-meaning but naive and flawed (as it turns out) civics teacher whose subtle meddlings lead to disastrous consequences, personally and professionally. And Witherspoon captures perfectly the driven (by a manipulative mother as well as her own inner demons) mover-and-shaker who knows only that she must get to the top, but never seems to ask why or at what cost, or what it all means.
Wild and crazy as the movie is, it never seems unbelievable, going just a little bit beyond yesterday's headlines of real life high school hanky panky. Warning: some crude language and simulated sex might prove embarrassing if you watch this with your pre-adult children, of any age. In my opinion, it's a borderline PG-13 verging towards "R." |
| Rating | | | Date | July 02, 2005 | | Summary | Scathing satire on education system and its eventual product | Content
| Alexander Payne has continuously amazed me with his consistency in deconstructing the desires, urges and troubles all his characters face. So far, he has done movies for the pro-choice mothers (Citizen Ruth), retirees (About Schmidt), middle-aged losers (Sideways), and now he's targeting the teacher-student relationship as rifle range practice.
Matthew Broderick has finally grown out of his high school/brat pack role. Ferris Bueller had stopped fighting the Man and became one himself. He's the moral centre of the movie. The mouthpiece that attempts to deconstruct what went wrong in his own benign and somewhat sad, way. In this manner, we empathize with his character but then he did a big snafu on his own part (namely banging his best friend's wife).
Reese Withespoon is at her best here. With a cheery facade full of determination, but yet deep down boils a sort of resentment for authority figures, or at least people who gets into her way. As Ebert puts it, the character is the embodiment of an adolescent Elizabeth Dole or Hilary Rodham, filled with ambition and determination to succeed everywhere, just to prove a sense of self-worth in a world of uber-males.
Payne used the school election as a plot device or conduit to emphasize that taken into the real world context, one can imagine how much pain and sufferings every "Democratic" elections can cause. How subtefuge and toadying can get politicians anywhere and everywhere they want to be. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 04, 2005 | | Summary | their destiny's fulfilled | Content
| I think the most interesting aspect of this film was that, despite all the twists, turns, and possible outcomes for the characters, each all got what they 'deserved'. The teacher (Matthew Broderick) who preaches morals but does not practice them, and winds up homeless and bitter toward overachievers. The model student (Reese Witherspoon)gets into a good school and lands a job in D.C.Then there's the popular kid (Chris Klein) with little ambition who flourishes at a local party school, and the lesbian sister who winds up with her soulmate. You have to wonder which ones are happy with their destiny. Either way, great film with unique story and solid acting, and a goofy soundtrack which compliments the mayhem which can even occur in the heartland! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 25, 2005 | | Summary | She Must be Stopped | Content
| Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon in a wonderful performance as the compulsive, pushy over-achiever) is determined to win the high school election. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick looking very frumpy in a role that is ironic considering his Ferris Bueller alter ego) is the social studies teacher having a really bad time in his life. Lots of complications begin when McAllister's best friend was fired for having an affair - with Tracy of all people. When Jim puts popular jock Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) up to running against Tracy... of course, this means war. A deliciously dark comedy that is a good adaptation of the book by Tom Perrotta. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 23, 2005 | | Summary | irony for Matthew Broderick | Content
| Unless you're a kid or have been living under a rock for the past 20 years you have probably heard of and most likely seen Ferris Bueler's Day Off starring Matthew Broderick. In Ferris Bueler, Broderick played a care-free and slick high school senior who played by his own rules yet gave people the impression that he was a saint. Who would have guessed that 15 years latter Broderick would be playing a responsible and somewhat caring high school teacher? So what is the irony you ask? In Ferris Bueler, Principal Rooney was out to get Ferris because he knew that Ferris wasn't the "goody two shoes" that everyone (almost everyone) thought he was. In the movie Election, Broderick plays teacher Jim McAllister who has it out for a student (Reese Witherspoon) who is a "top of her class" perfectionist that gets things to go her way even if it means stepping on others by using dishonest methods to reach her desired goals. I am NOT suggesting that one compare Ferris Bueler to Election for they are seperate movies in themselves however I will say that fans of Ferris Bueler who haven't seen Election should know that Election is not the same family-friendly film that Ferris Bueler's Day Off was. Election is R-rated and is perverted at times. As interesting as the movie is, the viewer is most likely to notice a change of characater for Jim McAllister thoughout the movie. It's easy to feel sorry for some of the things that happens to him yet he also deserves what he gets to a degree. There are realistic circumstances that are touhced upon throughout the movie. Whether you are currently in high school or have long since graduated, you will probably be able to identify some of the characters in Election with students and teachers who you knew (or know) in high school. As for the DVD, the picture and sound quality are ok but there are no special features to speak of. As a previous reviewer put it, this is typical of Paramount to issue "bare-boned" DVDs to their customers. |
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