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Bona Fide Productions
MTV Films
Paramount Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Reading. Writing. Revenge.
A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.
AnnS.
Aug 24, 2024 · via TMDB
Aside from the comedy and political satire, it's a coming-of-age movie of a teenager and her teacher who goes in the opposite direction. Self-control, which is part of growing up is the main theme. Flick, who seems the essence of self-control, is running for class president and goes bananas in the scene where she pulls down her rival's posters. Luck saves her from paying for that and it looks like she learns from it. And teacher McAllister regresses and regresses, first into a teenager when he plans an extramarital affair with his wife's best friend. Then, angry at and hating Flick, he gives into his emotions again and discards some of Flick's votes, soon losing both his marriage and his job. The last scene is of McAllister years later being a tourist in D.C. Suddenly he sees Flick coming out of a government building with some suited D.C. types, and going into a limo. Furious, he flings a full drink cup into its back window. The limo stops and like a bad little boy, he runs away. The regression is complete.
CinemaSerf
Aug 28, 2023 · via TMDB
This early outing for Reese Witherspoon ("Tracy Flick") sees her desperate to become class President in her high school. Clever, ruthless and determined - she takes on all comers in her quest for success, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way. Happily hapless teacher Matthew Broderick is charged with overseeing the election campaign, and conscious that his front-runner is a bit of a nightmare manages to convince recently injured school hottie "Paul" (Chris Klein) to stand against her. Though he be thick as two short planks, he is a formidable challenge for "Flick" as most of the school don't appear to be too bright, either... and the fight is on. Her scheming machinations and his attempts to foil her ambitions make for quite a fun 100 minutes. The dialogue can be a bit earthy at times, but don't, whatever you do, look for plot complexities nor a thought-provoking script - except, perhaps, in addressing the odiousness of blind ambition and perhaps, 30 years later - it sends us a gentle reminder that if we all just sleep through our respective democratic processes then we will get people like this really running the place.... Klein is quite good as the nice-but-dim "Paul" too!
r96sk
Jul 13, 2022 · via TMDB
<em>'Election'</em> builds relatively slowly though really does become a fun movie by its conclusion. It's most definitely worth a watch. Matthew Broderick is excellent throughout, as are the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein. The films goes to some unexpected places and manages to make it work. And there's a great callback in there too. I will say that I didn't love the internal monologue bits, but they didn't derail the film for me in any major way.
Wuchak
Sep 14, 2018 · via TMDB
Amusing and compelling high school dramedy with Broderick and Witherspoon When a high achiever student (Reese Witherspoon) runs for president of the student body at her Omaha high school one of her teachers (Matthew Broderick) encourages an amiable jock to run against her (Chris Klein) because he finds her irritating. “Election” (1999) is a quirky high school dramedy in the mold of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982), but with a unique plot revolving around a school election. It’s not raunchy like the contemporaneous “American Pie” (except for one line by a teacher early on), but it is adult-oriented as there are several simulated sex scenes between various characters with no nudity. While they’re overt, they’re sorta amusing and fairly essential to the story. This is a must for anyone who’s a high school teacher as it understatedly satirizes the setting. The flick shows how easy it is for a good teacher with years of quality work to make a thoughtless mistake and suddenly fall out of grace. Yet it also shows redemption. Of course the film pokes fun at the election process and the rivalry of candidates, etc. There are a 2-3 laugh-out-loud scenes with Spaghetti Western music blaring (specifically, Ennio Morricone’s score from 1966’ "Navajo Joe"). Witherspoon is perfect as the female protagonist (although her face looks like Drew Barrymore on the poster), but I never found her alluring. I suppose Frankie Ingrassia (Lisa) and Jessica Campbell (Tammy) make up for it despite the eye-rolling lesbian component, which isn’t very substantive. The film runs 1 hour, 43 minutes and was shot in the Omaha, Nebraska, area (Papillion, Bellevue, LaVista, etc.) and, at the end, Washington DC. GRADE: B-
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Matthew Broderick
Jim McAllister
Reese Witherspoon
Tracy Flick
Chris Klein
Paul Metzler
Jessica Campbell
Tammy Metzler
Mark Harelik
Dave Novotny
Phil Reeves
Walt Hendricks
Molly Hagan
Diane McAllister
Delaney Driscoll
Linda Novotny
Colleen Camp
Judith Flick
Frankie Ingrassia
Lisa Flanagan
Matt Malloy
Vice-Principal Bell
Jeanine Jackson
Jo Metzler
Holmes Osborne
Dick Metzler
Nicholas D'Agosto
Larry Fouch
Matt Golden
Kid in Georgetown Hall
Jillian Crane
Jillian
Kaitlin Ferrell
Jennifer (uncredited)
John Ponzio
Georgetown Student (uncredited)
Rohan Quine
Village Guy (uncredited)
James Glennon
Director of Photography
Radan Popović
Second Unit Director of Photography
Wendy Chuck
Costume Design
Kyra Panchenko
Hairstylist
Nicki Ledermann
Makeup Artist
Gary J. Wayton
Stunt Coordinator
Alexander Payne
Director
Kevin Tent
Editor
Yoram Astrakhan
Chief Lighting Technician
Carrie Houk
Additional Casting
Barbara Harris
ADR Voice Casting
Jim Burke
Co-Producer
Albert Berger
Producer
Ron Yerxa
Producer
Rolfe Kent
Original Music Composer
Michael Keller
Sound Re-Recording Mixer
Tom Perrotta
Novel
Alexander Payne
Screenplay
Jim Taylor
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The Stranglers - Live '78, SF
1978
Saddle Leather Law
1944
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
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Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
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