Election (1999)

Election is a 1999 American comedy film adapted from a critically acclaimed 1998 novel of the same title by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school, and satirizes both suburban high school life and politics. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for Witherspoon in the Best Actress category, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film in 1999. It stars Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Klein and tells the story of Jim McAllister (Broderick), a popular high school history and civics teacher in suburban Omaha, Nebraska and one of his students, Tracy Flick (Witherspoon), around the time of the school's student body elections. McAllister's enthusiastic involvement with various school-related functions masks his frustration with other aspects of his life; Tracy is an overachiever whose obsession with getting into a good college masks a vindictive and manipulative personality. When Tracy obtains a nomination for class president in the school election, McAllister believes she does not deserve the title, and tries his best to stop her from winning. The film gained much attention commercially and critically in 1999, mainly because of word of mouth and high critical praise. While it failed to become a major box office success, home video and DVD releases were extensively popular, and the film achieved a cult classic status. Following its release, the movie has received various rankings; Election is ranked #61 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies and #9 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies, while Witherspoon's performance as Flick was ranked at #45 on the list of the 100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine. The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for strong sexuality, sex-related dialogue and language, and a scene of drug use and was rated '15' by the BBFC for "some moderate sex and references".

Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is a high school teacher in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska whose enthusiastic involvement at school masks his frustration with other aspects of his life. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is an overachieving senior with a secret vindictive and sexual side. Earlier in the year, Tracy had an affair with another teacher, McAllister's best friend Dave (Mark Harelik). As a result, Dave was fired and divorced by his wife Linda (Delaney Driscoll); Tracy, however, walked away without reprisal or punishment. One day, Tracy announces that she is running for student body president, which horrifies McAllister, who is in charge of organizing the school's student government and truly despises Tracy. Set to run unopposed, McAllister decides to teach Tracy a lesson in humility by introducing another candidate. Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) is a polite and popular football player at the school. However, Paul is unable to play football his final year due to a broken leg, leaving him depressed. McAllister convinces him to register for the election, giving him new purpose. This serves to bring out Tracy's vindictiveness, as she is jealous of Paul's ease at being successful and popular. Meanwhile, Paul's younger sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell) is dumped by her lover, Lisa (Frankie Ingrassia), who says that she is straight and was just "experimenting". Lisa quickly becomes Paul's new girlfriend and campaign manager, in part to anger Tammy. In retaliation, Tammy decides to run for president as well, with a platform that student government is a sham. During a school assembly to hear their speeches, after Tracy draws only polite applause and Paul gets a strong reaction, Tammy delivers a defiant speech in which she denounces the election and that she will dissolve the student government if elected. This rallies the student body to a standing ovation. Fearing the student body will not vote, Tammy is suspended and kicked out of the election. While at school one night over the weekend, Tracy tries to fix one of her posters, but accidentally tears it. In a fit of uncharacteristic rage, she destroys all of Paul's campaign posters. The next day, she claims innocence and threatens legal action against the school when McAllister accuses her. However, Tammy "confesses" to Tracy's crime after witnessing her disposing of the refuse by the town factory. She is then transferred to a private parochial school for girls, which was the original objective of her false confession. Later, McAllister, who is secretly attracted to Linda, kisses her spontaneously the day before the election. Linda asks Jim to rent a motel room for a later rendezvous, but when he arrives later to pick her up, she isn't there. He returns home to find Linda and his wife talking together. Knowing he's been caught, he spends the night in his car. The next morning, McAllister oversees the counting of the election ballots at school. During this, he calls Linda several times, professing his love for her, after a bee sting. Jim's wife kicks him out of the house when he tries to apologize. After all the ballots are counted, Tracy has won by one vote. After he sees Tracy dancing around excitedly in the hall, he deduces that she found out that she won before it was announced. McAllister secretly disposes of two of Tracy's ballots then demands a recount, naming Paul as the winner. When a janitor discovers the two discarded ballots and presents them to the principal, McAllister resigns from his job. Divorced and humiliated, McAllister leaves Nebraska, ultimately choosing to fulfill a longtime dream of moving to New York City, becoming a tour guide at the American Museum of Natural History, where he meets a new woman. Tracy gets accepted into Georgetown University, while Paul gets into the University of Nebraska. Tammy loves her new school, where she has met her new girlfriend. Jim ends recounting the one final time he saw Tracy. After witnessing her get into a limosine with a politician, McAllister is reminded of his friend Dave and what Tracy has done to get where she is. Jim hurls a soda cup at the limosine, then makes a quick getaway.