Election (1999 Film)

Election (1999 film)

Election is a 1999 American comedy film adapted from a 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.

The film 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 involvement with various school-related functions masks his frustration with other aspects of his life; Tracy is an overachiever determined to get into a good college. When Tracy qualifies to run for class president in the school election, McAllister believes she does not deserve the title, and tries his best to stop her from winning.

While it failed to become a major box office success, home video and DVD releases were more lucrative. 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".