‘Some people say I’m an overachiever, but I think they’re just jealous…’
It’s strange how some directors become household names and yet others slip under the radar, despite their output being just as impressive as their better known peers. Alexander Payne has quietly produced some of the most acclaimed cinema of the last 20 years, Sideways, The Descendents and Nebraska all attracting plaudits and awards. Before all that though, Payne brought us Election. A nasty little black comedy disguised as a teen movie. Think Heathers mixed with the darkest bits of Clueless or Mean Girls and you are somewhere close…
Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is perfect. Pretty, intelligent and intimidating in her ambition, it seems that her procession to the role of school body president is as inevitable as the tides. Long standing faculty member Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas, and he enlists the help of popular football player Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to help him swing the election away from Tracy.
It’s weird that Election remains a cult classic rather than an accepted giant of ’90s cinema. Broderick was a big star at the time and he anchors this film with a brilliantly downbeat performance, and Witherspoon is a revelation in her breakout role as the wolflike Tracy Flick. Together, the two share a wonderfully barbed chemistry that evolves into an anti-love story for the ages. Even Chris Klein is good in this movie, and for anyone who has seen the American Pie franchise, that is certainly not a given.
Payne’s screenplay, itself an adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s novel, is equal parts comedic and philosophical, fertile ground that Payne would evoke later in his career defining comedy Sideways.
It is indicative of how underrated Election is that it has taken me, someone who is utterly obsessed with the ’90s, so long to see it. If you are similarly in love with that heady decade, don’t make the same mistake I did. There is an election going on. Vote Metzler.