Election

Matthew Broderick plays Jim McAllister, a popular and well respected teacher at George Washington Carver High School. Reese Witherspoon is Tracy Flick, A-Grade student and No. 1 candidate for the student body president. Tracy is confident that her campaign for presidency is going smoothly until Mr McAllister decides to disrupt proceedings and introduce opposition to her as yet unchallenged ride to the top. More than a teenage flick, director Alexander Payne has satirized the popular genre to investigate notions of political and moral corruption. In a clever piece of casting, Matthew Broderick exchanges his Ferris Bueller persona for the devoted and concerned teacher who is slightly burned out from years of teaching. Add to this the disillusionment of a dull marriage and the shameful dismissal of McAllister’s best friend and colleague, and the esteemed civic teacher’s sense of democracy is put to the test. Brilliant performances, subtle humour and an excellent screenplay (an Oscar nomination for Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor). Surprisingly, this film was a box office sleeper. Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta.