Flick Vs Metzler
Jim McAllister is a school teacher at Carver, a high school in Nebraska. He’s not a particularly happy person at this time in his life, and he basically gets through life day by day. One day he discovers that Reese Witherspoon’s character, Tracy Flick, is running for President of the student body. Flick is an over-achieving, manipulative student that is driven to get what she wants. So much in fact that she actually seduced one of her teachers who is also a good friend of McAllister’s. When McAllister realizes that Flick is running unopposed for the election and is clearly a sure bet to win, he convinces popular, but admittedly not as academically inclined, Paul Metzler to run against her.
McAllister’s life begins to crumble around him as the election drags on; this isn’t your typical comedy, and there is actually a significant drama theme to the entire film, all in an effort to highlight the lengths some are willing to go for ultimately trivial pursuits.
Election is a fairly interesting movie that’s worth a watch; I didn’t find it particularly captivating or interesting enough to think I’ll watch it again, but its unique story and telling of that story, along with thoughtful dialogue and good acting make it stand out from the pack.
Election On Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Election is a mixed bag; the presentation quality is noticeably better than what a DVD would offer and both the video and audio quality are fairly nice – not outstanding and not without some grain and other video blemishes, but nothing too bad. Where this release really is lacking is in the extra features, as there is literally just one: an optional audio commentary track with director Alexander Payne.
Election is worth a rent, but it’s hard to recommend this release given it’s only a marginal improvement in presentation quality than a DVD and the lone audio commentary is the only extra feature included.