Special Election

reviewed Fri, 07 May 1999 21:47:26 EDT

Election is the best movie I've seen this year. Wickedly funny, acid-tongued, and surprisingly raunchy, it far outshines the novel on which it's based. Every actor is dead-on perfect; every detail of the bland high-school backdrop is nailed. Even the music is perfect. It's bitter and clever and profane, and it doesn't pull its punches (just a word of warning for the faint-of-heart among you who may be expecting a bubbly teen comedy, as evidently were the old couple beside me who tsk-tsked every swear word and every hint of sex -- they were kept pretty busy).

Reese Witherspoon is outright terrifying as the hyper-ambitious Tracy Flick, like Mussolini with a peaches-and-cream complexion. Matthew Broderick is great as her teacher and nemesis, "Mr. M." He's certainly got the high-school-teacher brown-on-brown wardrobe down pat -- and stay tuned till the final fade-out to catch his little tribute to Ferris Bueller.

I can't recommend this one highly enough. You need to have a warped sense of humor to enjoy it, but if you're even a little bit twisted, you'll love it.

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