by Miguel Mike Medina
Election is a Comedy/Satire movie that came out in 1999. It’s produced by MTV Films. That’s right. This is when MTV was MTV. Directed by Alexander Payne. It’s been 25 years since the release of the movie. The premise of the movie is somewhat crazy and bizarre but it demonstrates how certain characters can go insane when they want to win by any means necessary, especially in politics. You have candidates who are notorious and vicious in politics.
Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick and Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister have great chemistry as the teacher and student. Tracy is a hardcore driver student who is running for school president. Jim is a teacher who is not too fond of Tracy and is trying to sabotage her from winning. Reese steals almost every scene in this movie. Election is like the prequel or a little taste to the movie Legally Blonde, which Reese Witherspoon knocks out of the ballpark in her role.
The “we’re in love” line delivered by Mark Harelik portraying Dave while crying made me laugh. This happened during the 15-minute mark of Act One. Dave getting involved with a student like Tracy cost him his job and his marriage. Linda, his wife, ended up kicking him out of the house. Dave moved back to Milwaukee to live with his parents. That’s a funny sequence and it goes to show that they’re repercussions when you sleep with a student. It’s funny because of the acting of these characters. Very good performance. Alexander Payne was able to capture that so eloquently.
The movie is easy and understandable to watch. Election goes to unexpected places and manages to make it work. One of the funny parts is the pettiness of the teenagers. There are some dark jokes. One of the scenes that I didn’t like or that I felt that was not needed is when three actors were praying in bed. I never like the idea of praying to for when you need something from him. You should be praying to him every day naturally, not only when you’re in trouble and when you need something from him. The dialogue during the praying scene, which was at the beginning of Act Three wasn’t clever or creative. But that’s just my opinion.
Overall, my review for Election is a 4.1 out of 5 stars. You can watch the movie on Max.
