Special Edition DVD

Paramount, widescreen 1.85:1/16x9, languages: English DD 5.1 [CC] & Dolby Surround, subtitles: English, single side-single layer, 18 chapters, audio commentary by director Alexander Payne, rated R, 103 min., $29.99, street date 10/19/99.

Studio Line

Directed by Alexander Payne. Starring Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell, Mark Harelik, Phil Reeves.

Jim McAllister (Broderick) is a popular teacher and student government adviser who loves making a difference in his students' lives. He's been named "Teacher of the Year" three times during his 12 years at George Washington Carver High, but he's about to put it all on the line -- his reputation, his career - for a student election.

Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) is the school's consummate overachiever, an alarmingly ambitious go-getter who treats high school as the first step in a lifelong career strategy. Busy with clubs, committees and school musicals, she is ready for her greatest glory - the student government presidency.

Getting elected should be a snap, since no one is running against her -- no one, that is, until Jim decides that this human achievement machine must be stopped and recruits his own candidate for president, Paul Metzler (Klein). A sidelined football hero whose enormous popularity threatens Tracy's chances, Paul is charmingly dimwitted and stupendously unfit for the job. The two-person contest gains another combatant when Paul's alienated younger sister, Tammy (Campbell), joins the race as an insurgent candidate who builds massive support for her crusade to abolish student government altogether.

As campaign fever sets in, the lines between right and wrong grow increasingly blurry and Jim's life, both in school and out, begins to spin out of control in this satirical comedy that takes an uncommon look at ambition, morality, desire, love and the lies we never cease telling ourselves.

Picture/Sound/Extras (B-/B+/C-)

Man, I'm starting to feel old! It seems like just yesterday that Matthew Broderick was playing high school students in films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and now here he is in Election, playing a high school teacher! Of course, since I was only a year out of high school when Bueller came out and I now work for a school system as a psychologist, this turn of events shouldn't seem so shocking, but there's something vaguely disquieting about it; it's like finding that first gray hair!

That event happened for me years ago, and right now I'm just happy I still have my hair, no matter what the color, so I better just get over this whole Broderick thing. While it's still kind of odd to see him play a legitimate adult, as he does in Election, it's also fun to see him depart from that image, and he does so quite nicely in this amusingly acerbic film.

Although the action revolves around a high school, Election definitely doesn't fall into the same category as more standard teen fare such as 10 Things I Hate About You. Despite the setting, Election is fully an adult movie; there's not much here onto which the average teen can glom. It falls more fully into the category of semi-satirical black comedy, and it achieves its goals in that department pretty well.

One interesting twist on the typical teen formula regards some of our main characters. Usually in this kind of movie, the "big man on campus" character - here embodied by dull-witted jock Paul (Chris Klein) - gets knocked down a peg or twelve and receives some sort of comeuppance, or at least discovers new insights into his personality. Not here. Paul's really the only truly nice person in the movie, and he glides through the whole movie with a positive attitude that remains absolutely unscathed. The unexamined life may not be worth living, but Paul's never going to figure that out; he'll remain dumb but happy forever.

On the flipside is Tracy (Reese Witherspoon), a girl from modest means who works her butt off and overachieves like crazy. Interestingly, she's the nominal villain of the piece, though I'm not sure that designation is quite fair. She's quite focussed and absorbed on keeping herself ahead, and her determination makes her ruthless and unethical, but she doesn't actually seem to be bad; it appears that she simply doesn't know any other way to behave. Being number one at all things has become a way of life for her so all she does has to feed that demon.

While all of the characters are fairly one-dimensional - Matthew Broderick's Jim McAllister being the most broadly defined persona - Tracy seems especially so. Witherspoon's a fine actress but her portrayal of Tracy appears fairly one-note with little indication of any other side of Tracy's personality. According to the audio commentary from director Alexander Payne, that's not the fault of Witherspoon; it turns out that a number of scenes were shot that open up her character but they found themselves on the cutting room floor. I'm not sure whether the character is more or less successful as she appears, but it would have been interesting to see the shots.

While Broderick's McAllister would seem to be the film's protagonist - he's the main character, at least - it could be argued that he falls into the villain's spot as easily as does Tracy. Of the main characters, they're really the only ones who behave unethically. However, since he's the one who has to pay more directly for his sins, he comes across as more of a tragic figure; it's his pettiness and envy that drive the plot and that cause his downfall. Tracy's megalomania provokes her to act inappropriately, but she escapes pretty much scot-free; McAllister's the one who suffers.

Anyway, those are just some of the issues I considered after watching Election. Although it seems somewhat cartoonish at times, I think it harbors a number of different themes and areas that are ripe for exploration and discussion. If you don't want to do that, however, you can just watch the movie on its own and enjoy it; it stands up nicely as a cruelly entertaining piece.

One nice touch in Election is the realistic appearance of the environment. I've worked in schools for some time now, so I know how they look, and Election shows some of the most realistic classrooms I've ever seen; these aren't some glam set designer's ideas of what would look like a cool class. The realism exists for a reason: the classes are real classrooms. Director Payne notes in his commentary that these scenes were shot in the real classrooms in a real high school that was really in Omaha, Nebraska. Actually, the commentary reveals Payne to be fairly obsessed with maintaining a natural appearance, and that preoccupation works well in this picture.

Paramount came late to the DVD game and they haven't set the world on fire with their offerings. There are some signs that they're coming around, however, and Election is a better than average release from them. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this single-sided, single-layered disc; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions.

Overall, the picture looks better than average but it's very inconsistent. At times it appears virtually flawless and crystal-clear, but at others it seems much spottier. In general, focus is excellent for fairly close-up shots (ones in which the participants are framed no farther out than chest level) but tends to become somewhat fuzzy when the camera zooms out beyond that range. While the image usually looks clean, a strangely grainy appearance enters the equation during many indoors shots; this seems to be the case mainly for scenes inside the high school, many of which comprise the worst-looking parts of the DVD. Color and black levels both seem consistently fine but pretty much unexceptional; while they varied as well, they didn't do so to the extremes seen with sharpness and graininess. Ultimately, the picture of Election looked fairly good for the most part but some significant flaws mar that image too frequently.

More successful is the film's Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. As I'd expect from this kind of movie, it's a pretty unassuming track, but it nicely complements the picture. The quality of the audio is always quite good and it renders dialogue, effects and music naturally and with nice warmth. The front soundstage offers a fair amount of depth; it lacks a tremendous amount of spatialization but it still places sounds nicely across the three front channels. While the rear speakers don't get much of a workout, they do contribute to the overall effect and they even feature some well-placed split surround images on occasion. This soundtrack isn't demonstration quality, but it wasn't meant to be. It's a fairly simple but quite effective mix that well suits the film.

Of all the movie studios, Paramount have always been the worst in regard to providing supplements; if I'm not mistaken, they are the only major studio that has never produced a true special edition laserdisc or DVD. That trend hasn't disappeared but they are at least adding some extras to a few of their DVDs, and Election falls into that category.

Election includes one - count it: one! - supplement: an audio commentary from director Payne. I adore these tracks but Payne's discourse didn't do much for me. For one, there are far too many dead spots; at least half of the track offers empty space, and the amount of "blank time" may actually be higher. Payne also doesn't provide too many substantive comments. He discusses some themes at times, and he also tells us about deleted scenes and other interesting points, but for much of the track he talks about the sets and the locations. That information is fine in moderation, but in this case, it's the rule. If you want to hear his comments, be patient and keep the remote close at hand.

While more supplements would have been appreciated - I'm disappointed that we don't get to see all the unused scenes Payne mentions - I suppose Paramount have to start somewhere. Audio commentaries are my favorite form of extra, and while this one isn't great, I'd take it over the standard battery of trailers and biographies any day.

One drawback that results from the paucity of supplements on Election is that this factor makes it harder for me to decide what kind of recommendation to issue for the DVD. On one hand, I liked the movie and the DVD is pretty well done. On the other, it's not an exceptional DVD and the film may be more of a niche product than something with really widespread appeal. Ultimately, I'd say that if you already know you really like the film, buy a copy; you'll be happy with this DVD. Otherwise you may want to rent it first and decide for yourself whether it's worth a purchase. I don't think you'll regret it if you just buy it, though; it's a rich film that will probably hold up nicely to repeated viewings.

Related Sites

Official Site--All the requisite info on the production of the film can be found on the site.
James Berardinelli's ReelViews--"Election has the sharpest satire of any teen movie made in years."
Rough Cut--"The story rarely elicits laughter."
DVD Celebrities: Reese Witherspoon--Provides profile, trivia, descriptive links to best fan sites, and complete listing of available films on DVD.
Matthew Broderick: From Here To Infinity--Easily the best site on the web dedicated to Broderick. The design is terrific and the contents are extensive.
Amazon.com--Available to purchase are the DVD at special discount, the novel by Tom Perrotta, and the original music soundtrack featuring various artists.
Reel.com--Purchase the DVD at special discount.