Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Election (1999)


The personal life of high school teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) gets...complicated. Oh and there's a student election going on too.

*      *      *

When I first saw Election (on VHS) I had never even heard of Alexander Payne. Though already an avid indie-film nut and familiar with its sleeve at the video store, I had not yet seen Payne's debut feature Citizen Ruth. This coupled with the fact that Election was being released by MTV Films, lead to some seriously low expectations on my part. I mean how could a movie featuring the least interesting guy from American Pie be any good? Well as you can likely tell by the fact that I am writing about it on this blog, I really really liked the movie. And come to think of it, I'm actually kind of thankful for the totally generic teen-movie marketing that this film received.  It warms my heart that a film as cynical and biting as this was able to be seen by such a wide audience. I love it when the public can be tricked into watching art.

1 comment:

  1. This movie is one of the best high school satires ever made.

    ReplyDelete