Election

I became a huge fan of Alexander Payne after I saw this hilarious film. His twisted sense of humour that exposes and exaggerates people’s faults is dead on. Although this is classified as an MTV movie, there is so much substance to it that it really can’t be lumped into all the other mundane, sexy teen, guttural comedies that the MTV film studio has put out over the years. The humour here is universal, taking outrageous situations and making them even more outrageous. This is a tricky thing to do. The humour can end up falling flat and come across as a really bad farce. This is not one of those cases.

A lot of the credit for the success of the film goes to the author of the book on which the film is based. Tom Perrotta knows these characters. By taking everyday themes (a fractured marriage, job ennui, sexuality and a high school election) and ratcheting up the farce on them, Perrotta nailed this scenario. Payne took that humour to the next level and created one of the most satisfying modern comedies ever. Although the writing forms the base for the successful film, the characterizations and performances by the all the actors are spot on.

It was nice to see Matthew Broderick back in a well-done comedy. Reese Witherspoon is fantastic as the manipulative Tracy Flick. Chris Klein plays the big dumb jock to the hilt. Jessica Campbell is equally fantastic as his sister. The over-the-top Tracy Flick character is matched wonderfully against the downplayed characters of Klein and Campbell. The primal jungle screams that Tracy Flick hears in her head when something doesn’t go her way is roll-on-the-floor brilliant.Comedies are hit or miss. This was a bull’s-eye.