1999 was a big year for movies. It was the year that The Matrix‘s slow-motion bullet influenced action movies for years to come. It was the year American Beauty won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Oscar fans have been arguing about it ever since. It was the year Pokémon jumped from Gameboys and TV to the big screen. And worst of all, it was the year that disappointed a generation of Star Wars fans with the release of The Phantom Menace.
To celebrate that landmark year in film’s 20th Anniversary, The Pop Break continues its year-long retrospective of 1999’s most influential (at least to us) films with staff writer Michael Vacchiano reflecting on Election.
The realm of politics is always a touchy subject—perhaps now more than ever in the landscape of 2019. If you’re like me and have no set political affiliation, the campaign season in particular is quite the torturous exercise. But as a lifelong movie lover, to me, the democratic process is never presented on film with more wry hilarity and sharp satire as it is with writer/director Alexander Payne’s Election. Twenty years later, the excellent black comedy is just as refreshing now as it was upon release.
Matthew Broderick (who, let’s face it, will always be known as “Bueller? Bueller?”) plays social studies teacher, Jim McAllister. A longtime educator at a suburban high school, Jim is extremely dedicated and well-liked by both his students and his peers. As the faculty adviser for the student council, however, he is dreading the thought of conniving overachiever Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) becoming senior class president. Harboring a personal grudge (no spoilers!) against the unopposed Tracy, Jim convinces the sweet-natured yet dim-witted jock Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her.
Payne sets the movie in Omaha, Nebraska where he was born and raised, and his choice to do so seems far from accidental. While he’s familiar with the area, it’s not lost on him that his home state resides in “Middle America,” often where most campaigning politicians strive to get votes and win. It’s also no coincidence that the characters in Election are the prototypical candidates we’re used to seeing every November. Tracy is the extremely articulate and overqualified candidate who can’t relate to “the people,” while Paul is the popular and good-looking candidate who has absolutely no clue what he’s doing. A wrench is even thrown into the mix when Paul’s lesbian outcast sister, Tammy (Jessica Campbell), joins the race.
As a kind of anti-establishment renegade, Tammy slides into the role of the independent party candidate, so to speak, with her entire “screw the system” mentality. The three presidential hopefuls, as well as Mr. McAllister, take turns narrating the story to contribute to the film’s biting commentary on American politics. The entire affair is hysterical and intelligent, and uncomfortably hits a little too close to home.
Election is heralded as the beginning of Witherspoon’s ascent into a major Hollywood player, and I couldn’t agree more. Tracy Flick is such a memorable character because we all went to school with someone like her, that person who was an ultra-competitive perfectionist. Always raising her hand first and getting the highest score on the test, Tracy was that person in class we all secretly couldn’t stand. And to her, the presidency is merely the latest step in her ruthlessly ambitious quest for a life of power and success.
The immensely talented Witherspoon has no problem tapping into that annoyingly chipper side of Tracy, which is clearly a mask for her manipulative and desperate nature. She’s a true wolf in sheep’s clothing…if that sheep wore a plaid skirt and sweater vest. Witherspoon has had plenty of great roles and performances on her resume since, including an Academy Award win for Walk the Line. But Tracy Flick gets my vote as the best, though I realize it’s up for debate (puns intended).
The man who is forever Ferris is not to be outdone, however, as Broderick does a fantastic job in his own right. Jim McAllister clearly loves his job as a teacher, but it’s hilarious to see him slowly unravel as the pressures of his home and professional life start to put him on edge. Broderick smartly plays him as an Average Joe who’s so tightly (and hysterically) wound up but who never goes completely off. It’s truly a comedic highlight for a veteran actor who’s had such a long career in film and on stage.
Just like his director, Klein is also an Omaha native who was discovered by local casting agents and made his acting debut in Election. His breakout 1999 would only get bigger, when he was part of the young ensemble cast of the teen sex romp American Pie. Klein is still most recognized today as the sensitive jock, Oz, in the comedy franchise. But others, myself included, still remember him for his hilarious role as “Simply Dusty” Dinkleman in the underrated Ryan Reynolds comedy Just Friends.
As for Payne, he has since become one of cinema’s most respected and well-established writer/directors in the past twenty years. 2004’s Sideways (a personal favorite) and 2011’s The Descendants are probably his most successful and lauded movies, racking up multiple awards in the process. Payne himself won writing Oscars for both films’ screenplays, and deservedly so. But it was Election that was the true jump-start for his filmmaking career, a comedy with so much to say about a topic that many don’t like to discuss. Never has politics been funnier…intentionally, that is.
