I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

good back-story, and good acting

Brilliant and touching

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The Breakfast Club meets American Beauty ? Something like that.This film has the makeup of the first with all the realism and implicit social commentary of the other, while maintaining a quality close to both.First of all, Reese Witherspoon does an absolutely monumental job here. Her acting gets right down to the smaller details, and despite her role being a very demanding one, she absolutely excels and delivers the most amazing performance, depicting every itchy inch of her obsessive character's personality and shedding a ton of light to the film on the whole.The film is great in how it tells a main story, then develops subplots that actually matter and aren't filler, and then can be consistently funny while developing all that. It's the sort of 'funny' that is realistic, pays attention to annoying details and the thick imperfections in particular profiles of people, all with a twist of fictitious grotesque that isn't though over-the-top.All in all, it paints an accurate portrait of late 90's America, with some of its social issues (sexual/relationship questions, carelessness and irresponsibility of our modern time in adults...), and it definitely delivers a strong moral at the end of it: he who works hardest wins in the end, but wins what (is it worth it) ?8-8.5/10.

"Who knew how high she would climb in life? How many people would suffer because of her? I had to stop her, now." This acerbic satire on American society and presidential politics viewed through the prism of a high-school election is an outstanding piece of work worthy of greater acclaim than it received in the box office. The director, Alexander Payne, has produced a humorous critique of the pursuit of naked ambition, and the general apathy of the electorate towards the democratic process. Rees Witherspoon gives an immaculate performance, mature beyond her years, of the zealous status-seeker, Tracey Flick. Fueled by her single mother's determination to have her succeed, Tracey's relentless and ruthless pursuit of the position of student president is unopposed until the intervention of Carver High's three times winner of 'Teacher of the Year', Jim McAllister. In his most noteworthy performance, Matthew Broderick shines as the civics teacher, charged with overseeing the school election process, whose determination to derail Flick's ambitions will have disastrous consequences. Payne and Jim Taylor's adapted screenplay, worthy of an Oscars nomination, provides an excruciating portrayal of the gradual downfall of McAllister in his struggle to balance moral rectitude with his own human frailties. Though believing his actions justified in defense of democratic ideals, McAllister is largely driven by not only his wish to have some retribution for his dismissed teaching colleague and best friend, in his opinion ensnared by Flick into an unethical and immoral relationship, but also his own fear of sharing a similar fate. Moreover, trapped in a loveless marriage and a career without scope to match the successes of his most promising students, Broderick's character is inexorably drawn into an affair with the wife of his dishonoured friend, and best friend to his own wife, which will have its own calamitous effect on both his personal and professional lives. The pitiful manner in which both he and his shamed friend skirt the depths of public indecency in pursuit of self-gratification, while believing that they do so out of love, make any belief that this film is imbued with misogynistic tendencies simply laughable. There are several truly uncomfortable yet 'laugh out loud' moments, such as that where McAllister's disgraced friend attempts to attest to his and Flick's love for each other while engulfed in floods of tears. Another is McAllister's own rushed and graphic preparation for his illicit assignation with the friend of the family. The film is infused with sardonic humour, embellished by the director's skillful use of editing techniques, such as the 'freeze frame' scenes wedded to McAllister's caustic narration of Flick's motivation. Further illustration of this concerns one of this reviewer's favourite scenes, where,post-coitus, McAllister's drab saloon car and suburban landscape is exchanged for a stylish two-seater sports car and Italian scenic strada, and back again, to reflect his new-found, yet flawed sense of male prowess. In addition, the use of multiple narrators allows the viewer to share and be immersed into the misguided views and interpretations of the film's core protagonists. The supporting cast give creditable performances, none more so than Jessica Campbell as the rebellious unconventional sister to the school heartthrob and sports star played by Chris Klein. Brought in after Thora Birch was sacked for creative differences with the director, Campbell received numerous nominations from different critical organisations for the best breakthrough performance of that year. This makes her self-imposed disappearance from our screens just over twelve months later such a loss to the industry. As for Chris Klein, having been discovered by the director while searching suitable school locations to shoot, he shows great potential, despite offering here a sort of pastiche of Keanu Reeves. Klein's naive but lovable school jock serves as McAllister's instrument to deny Flick victory. When this proves fruitless, he reverts to vote-tampering, almost divining the events of the forthcoming US presidential elections after the film's release. The viewer accompanies Broderick's hapless descent into transgressing core aspects of ethical and moral behaviour, half cheering on his crusade against the self-serving and self-righteous Flick, and half offended by McAllister's hypocrisy - the allegorical bee-sting injury serving as a visual marker of McAllister's tainted reputation. The ending serves as the perfect rib-tickling illustration of this character's ongoing struggles to rid Flick from his demons. A cult classic.

Election is cynical, satirical and sarcastic. Everything you can wonder about a teacher as a student comes true in this comedy, which lacks comedy (or at least any memorable moments). However, what it lacks in laughs it more than makes up for in the overall story. A story about revenge, discipline and role models; Election is just one of those films you can relate heavily to.The problems that surround Election are almost counteracted by the good. Whilst labeled as a comedy, it more or less passes for a coming of age drama with satirical undertones, but nonetheless, Election is as honest as it can get.

In the first few minutes of Election we are introduced to the main characters and basically what each of them thinks about their daily lives and their purpose in life. One particular scene highlights one of the teacher's lessons as he tries to squeeze out the students's idea of morals and ethics. Perhaps an early insight into Alexander Payne's screen writing style, Election will look to test these ideas and how humanity uses them in practice. The backdrop for this basis is a student body election that will determine the next student council president. The early candidate is the ambitious Tracy Flick (Witherspoon), who will stop at nothing to guarantee a bright future. In charge of the election is Mr. McAllister (Broderick), who resents Tracy for getting his colleague and friend fired due to an inappropriate relationship. Given his sour feelings, McAllister will persuade a popular jock named Paul Metzler (Klein) to run against Tracy in an attempt to get revenge for his friend. From then on, madness will ensue as McAllister experiences work and family problems and Tracy deals with the challenge of having competition.Election is, in essence, an exercise of how a human being acts in order to achieve what they rightfully believe is the common good. The dynamic of the movie is mostly supported in the head-to-head between Tracy and Mr. McAllister, but also with other characters. In the end, both of them end up being completely misguided in their actions. With that being said, it's the movie's ending that confuses me the most. I must warn you here that this final analysis of the movie may lead you to predict the conclusion of the referred film, and if so, you probably should stop reading here. Continuing with the review, by the movie's wrap up, it seems that, despite everything that happened, all our characters seem to have surpassed this simple school election, and are now living the lives they planned for themselves. Although it doesn't necessarily spell out if they're truly happy, it feels kind of weird that the message I get from this story is that if you do something wrong, you'll end up being fine, something that I don't entirely believe, after completing this movie. Give it a try, and see what kind of ideas you get from it.Rating: 8/10