This is one of the films I have to discuss on SISKEL AND EBERT this Wednesday, I see it tomorrow, but heck.... Here's an advance look at the film from the point of view of a grunt (no offense Corporal Hicks!). So here ya go...
Corporal Hicks here ONCE again with a sneak peek at another up-and-coming flick. This time the Colonial Marine Corp. was nice enough to grant me a look at Paramount's new movie "Election," starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. As before, upon receiving word of this screening, I jumped into the drop ship and headed out for Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood. I didn't really know much about this movie, other than who the stars were and that it takes place in a high school. The cut I saw was, indeed, the final cut of the movie.
On with the breakdown(spoilers involved):
The film takes place at a seemingly normal high school in Omaha. Broderick plays a history teacher named Jim McAllister who loves his job passionately and has been doing it for many a year. Witherspoon, who plays Tracy Flick, is THE number one student in the junior class; she is involved in everything and is EXTREMELY hyper. The crux of the movie focuses on who will win the presidency in the upcoming student council election. Our darling Reese is the frontrunner and is going ballistic trying to advertise herself(she personally autographs 400 cupcakes on election day). Broderick's character Mr. McAllister, however, is very uneasy at the thought of young Tracy taking the election because he knows that she is the kind of girl that will walk over anyone and anything to get what she wants.
In fact, there is a subplot early on about her having an affair with one of her teachers simply because she's a little lonely. Thus, Mr. McAllister convinces the very popular star quarterback of the football team named Matt(who can't play ball anymore because he broke his leg) to run against Tracy. Matt(Chris Klein, I think) agrees to run. However, in another subplot, Matt has an obsessive lesbian sophomore sister Tammy whose "girlfriend" broke up with her and went down on Matt just to piss Tammy off. Thus, Tammy also joins the race, out to sabotage her brother. Then things start to go really bad. McAllister cheats on his wife with one of their closest friends; Tracy tears down all of Matt's posters; Tammy quits that high school headed for an all girls "Catholic" school. But then, upon finding out that Tracy won the election over Matt by 1 solitary vote, McAllister throws away a couple of the votes so Matt is declared the winner. All hell then breaks loose as everyone finds out about everyone else. McAllister gets thrown out by his wife and quits his job, Tracy is declared the real president, and Tammy starts another sad relationship with an unsuspecting girl. The movie ends with McAllister moving to New York and starting a new life while Tracy goes to Georgetown and ends up as an intern for a senator.
Now for the real breakdown:
This movie disturbed me. It is extremely funny and is 100% true to life, but that's what scared me. This movie is the best update of any kind of John Hughes/1980's teen-angst flicks I've seen so far. All of the archetypes are updated to fit 1990's sensibilities and the humor is laugh-out-loud funny at times. The thing about John Hughes' movies was that none of the characters really did anything that was REALLY offensive; his movies were also often very optimistic. "Election" is really rather cynical, unfortunately. The movie has such dark undertones to it that I found myself kind of saddened by the fact that my generation "is" how it "is." This is an extremely well-made film. The cast is absolute perfection; there's no one else who could have filled those roles as well as these guys did. The direction and editing also stand out. In the end, though, I'd recommend this film to others; it really is a lot of fun. By the way, there is a fair share of gross-out humor that makes it hilarious(and R-rated), so beware young children!
That is all.
Corporal Hicks, signing off...
