Next up is 1999’s Election a wicked political satire about corruption and the underhanded nature of politics that just happens to be set in a High School.
It’s all about the battle between Tracy Flick and one of her teachers Mr McAllister portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in a breakout year (she had Cruel Intentions and Best Laid Plans also that year) and Matthew Broderick in quite possibly his best career performance.
The script from Alexander Payne is astute, both funny and full of twists as things spin out of control for Jim McAllister. It was part of what could be called a golden age of “teenage films” appearing in the second half of the 90s including the likes of Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Drop Dead Gorgeous and more. A seemingly brief period where Hollywood acknowledged that teenagers were interested in content that didn’t underestimate them.
The film is staged fairly straightforwardly with not lot to really discuss in terms of the shot choices, mise-en-scene and the like but low key approach does let the strong characters contained within the script really shine whilst doing enough for it to not feel like a TV show.
If you made a pitch black prequel to Parks & Recreation this could easily be the early days of Leslie Knope. This is worth catching if you’ve not seen it and the themes feel as relevant as they ever were.
