Election

Based on Tom Perrotta’s (superior) novel, Election follows several characters, including Matthew Broderick’s Jim McAllister, Reese Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick, and Chris Klein’s Paul Metzler, as they find themselves caught in the middle of an unexpected scandal during a seemingly run-of-the-mill high-school election. Filmmaker Alexander Payne, armed with his and Jim Taylor’s screenplay, delivers a solid adaptation that benefits from the top-tier efforts of its various performers, as stars Broderick, Witherspoon, and Klein turn in note-perfect work that goes a long way towards cultivating (and sustaining) a compulsively watchable atmosphere – with the brilliantly-cast vibe perpetuated, and then some, by a roster of such first-class periphery players as Phil Reeves and Jessica Campbell. It’s clear, as well, that Election‘s thoroughly engaging and entertaining feel is due in no small part to Payne’s cinematic, impressively clever approach to the material, and the movie, though admittedly riddled with a few regrettable lulls, ultimately does progress into an increasingly absorbing second half that’s capped off with a fairly perfect (and impressively gripping) third act – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a solid (and refreshingly brisk) high-school comedy that remains one of the best entries within an often exceedingly hit-and-miss genre.

***1/2 out of ****