Election (DVD)

Election - "Reading, Writing, Revenge" I brought this in HMV in the sale, and I think it cost me £3. I picked it up because I love Legally Blonde and most other films that Reese Witherspoon is in; also I enjoyed Stepford Wives with Matthew Broderick and so thought it would be entertaining to watch. I decided to watch it to have a break from essay writing, however, I was not impressed... Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is a straight A student at her high school, she is driven and whats more, has an even more driven mother behind her. She decides to run for the role of president of the student body at her school - Carver High. However, Mr ...  Read the complete review

Alexander Payne's 1999 comedy may well confuse many viewers unfamiliar with his previous works like Citizen Ruth, and subsequent dramas like About Schmidt - under the guise of a vacuous teen comedy, it is a bitingly sharp satire about the absurd nature of politics, and serves as a scarily prescient allegory of the American presidential election two years later. Matthew Broderick plays Jim McAllister, a seemingly enthusiastic school teacher who ultimately uses this to cover up the other deficient areas of his life, such as his plain wife, his questionable sexual performance, and simply the existential stew that he has found himself in. This is compounded by his ...  Read the complete review

If you said no, I don't believe you. A classic of its genre, Ferris was about a carefree kid who bamboozled everyone to get his legendary day off. Twenty years or so on, the tables have turned. Ferris, alias Matthew Broderick, is now a middle aged teacher in a suburban high school desperately trying to convince himself that his life isn't a failure. Ferris Bueller, this is your midlife crisis. Now, if I say to you, this is a classic of the American High School movie genre, that's probably enough to send most over-17s straight back to the movie-store shelf for another choice. They'd be missing out, big time. The setting may be a high school, but ...  Read the complete review

This film may be about teenagers at high school, but don't be tempted into thinking it's another classic tale updated for the Beverley Hills kids a la She's All That (Pygmalion), Clueless (Emma) or Ten Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew - apparently if you say it fast it sounds like the Shakespeare title?!) Election is a bitingly cynical satire on the process of electing a leader, particularly relevant now while we're still in the middle of the Bush / Gore fight. The excellent Reese Witherspoon plays Tracey Flick, an over-achiever determined to become president of the student body. Matthew Broderick plays her long-suffering teacher. ...  Read the complete review

'Election' is a rarity - a sharp political satire that makes absolutely no compromises to audience tastes and emerges with real bite and intelligence. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is a swot, a do-gooding busybody, the kind of person is on every student committee, whose hand is always raised in class. Popular teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) decides, knowing that Tracy has some skeletons in her closet, and moreover, despising Tracy for being a knowall, decides to scupper her chances of becoming president of the student body with another candidate, nice-but-dim sports hero Paul Metzler (Chris Klein). A third candidate then enters the race, ...  Read the complete review