ELECTION (67)

Directed by: Alexander Payne

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein

The Pitch: An election for Student President at a Midwestern high-school ends up destroying the life of a well-meaning teacher.

Theo Sez: Formidably intelligent, obviously, and so scrupulously fair it becomes impossible to judge (a good thing, by the way) : I was amazed to read (in "Sight & Sound") that "Payne's sympathies are with the underdog" or that "ultimately it's success - at least in the way it's achieved by Tracy - which seems shabby", given how consistently the film portrays its hero as self-deluding and a little pathetic, right up to the end (when he strives to convince himself that he's really not angry at Tracy anymore, moments before he starts throwing things at her car). The prevailing view seems far closer to Tracy's remark that "the weak are always trying to sabotage the strong", though she herself isn't above a little self-delusion (she doesn't need a father-figure, she says, just someone she can feel safe and protected with) ; the only "strong" element is perhaps Payne himself, casting an amused eye over his characters' foibles, mapping out their complex motivations with domino-effect determinism. It seems churlish to complain when the script is so dense and layered (even little things, like the apples-and-oranges speech being echoed by Tracy a few minutes later, add to the richness), but the truth is there's an imbalance - camouflaged amid the grunge of CITIZEN RUTH but very obvious in these brash surroundings - between Payne's detached, God's-eye view of the characters and his aggressive style, from his pushy use of 'joke' music even to the way scenes are fragmented and expressed through striking visual shorthand (e.g. Tracy introduced via a trestle-table snapping open), directing our emotions. Gloriously bright satire, but you get a feeling of the satirist trying and failing to be above it all : trying to be wise, when he's really just a wise guy.