Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,906
edits
Election: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (markup tweaks) |
No edit summary |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 6:
Overachieving high school student Tracy Flick is running unopposed for [[Student Council President]]. This draws the ire of history and civics teacher Jim McAllister, who [[Pick on Someone Your Own Size|hates Tracy's attitude]] and feels that the students should have a choice -- any choice -- in the election. There's also the fact that McAllister is holding a massive grudge against Tracy for engaging in [[Teacher-Student Romance|a sexual relationship]] with his best friend/fellow teacher Dave Novotny, which wound up getting him fired and destroying his marriage -- while Tracy (thanks to her mother) got the school to cover up the entire thing in order to protect her reputation.
To foil her dreams of using the election as a springboard for her future, McAllister recruits injured star football player Paul Meltzer to run against Tracy. Added to the mix is Paul's lesbian sister Tammy, who offers herself up as a candidate as well in order to get revenge upon Paul after he starts dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[Incompatible Orientation|she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile McAllister, feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own [[Foe Yay]] with Tracy) starts dating the aforementioned friend's ex-wife. All of this culminates into the mother of all bad days as all of these trains crash into each other.
The film was a critical darling, but had a mediocre take at the box office, due to the studio [[Never Trust a Trailer|screwing up its marketing]] and portraying it as a straight-up teen comedy as opposed to a drama with [[Black Comedy]] overtones -- presumably an effort to cash in on the success of ''[[American Pie]]'' (the fact that Chris Klein is in both films adds a bit of credence to that theory), which came out earlier that year. Based on its critical success, though, it managed an [[Academy Award]] nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (which Payne and writing partner Jim Taylor would later win in 2004 for ''[[Sideways]]'' and again in 2011 for ''[[The Descendants (film)|The Descendants]]''). Likewise, Reese Witherspoon received glowing reviews for her performance, and it is often cited as one of the future [[Academy Award]] winner's best roles. The film also resurrected [[Matthew Broderick]]'s career after several years of obscurity.
Line 14:
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]]: Deconstructed. The student council is ultimately revealed at the end of the film as being highly dysfunctional, {{spoiler|to the point that Tracy can't get ''anything'' accomplished during her tenure as President}}. Furthermore, the film pretty much establishes that the whole thing is one glorified popularity contest: hence why Mr. McAllister selects Paul to run against Tracy since, as one of the most popular kids at school, more kids in theory will vote for him over Tracy. Furthermore, Tammy's entire campaign platform is based upon the idea of dissolving the student council as she openly acknowledges that it is a huge fraud and a waste of time for everyone at school.
** The film ''does'' play this straight with Tracy and Mr. McAllister, under the logic that being [[Student Council President]] will be a major jewel in the proverbial crown that is Tracy's college application. Being student council president adds a good number of points to one's college application, especially when applying to colleges where heavy extracurricular activity involvement is a prerequisite to get the application board to even give your application a second glance. Indeed, Mr. McAllister outright states that being student council president, along with her straight A+ grades and spotless permanent record, will give Tracy her pick of pretty much any college she applies to.
* [[All Elections Are Serious Business]]
* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Mr. McAllister makes the ''very'' big mistake of [[Chekhov's Gun|unknowingly pissing off the school janitor]] by dumping a box of chow mein in a waste basket he just emptied. It bites him in the ass when {{spoiler|the janitor finds the thrown-out ballots in the trash bin and reveals to the principal that he had rigged the election}}.
Line 32:
* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Why Lisa stops being friends with Tammy. She was straight (and only "[[Bi the Way|experimenting]]") while Tammy was lesbian and thought the two of them were [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|in love]].
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Tracy. Also Lisa - it's strongly implied she dates Paul to hurt Tammy and later a football player to hurt Paul.
* [[Lonely
* [[Mama Bear]]: Tracy's mother.
* [[Not So Above It All]]: Tracy, in her portion of the film's narration, rants and raves against the rich kids of the school and how working hard and playing by the rules gives her moral superiority, all before [[Sanity Slippage|going batshit crazy]] and engaging in {{spoiler|blatant vandalism by destroying Paul's posters}}, an act she only gets away with it because someone else {{spoiler|(Tammy) would rather take credit for the crime}}. Not to mention her vow to sue McAllister or anyone else who dares even ''hint'' towards the dark secret of [[Teacher-Student Romance|her affair with a teacher]].
* [[Pick on Someone Your Own Size]]
* [[Popular Is Dumb]]: Paul.
Line 54:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Films Based on Novels]]
[[Category:The Criterion Collection]]
[[Category:Film]]
| |||