L'Arriviste

Amusing and compelling high school dramedy with Broderick and Witherspoon When a high achiever student (Reese Witherspoon) runs for president of the student body at her Omaha high school one of her teachers (Matthew Broderick) encourages an amiable jock to run against her (Chris Klein) because he finds her irritating. “Election” (1999) is a quirky high school dramedy in the mold of “Fast T…

'Election' builds relatively slowly though really does become a fun movie by its conclusion. It's most definitely worth a watch. Matthew Broderick is excellent throughout, as are the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein. The films goes to some unexpected places and manages to make it work. And there's a great callback in there too. I will say that I didn't love the internal monologue bits…

This early outing for Reese Witherspoon ("Tracy Flick") sees her desperate to become class President in her high school. Clever, ruthless and determined - she takes on all comers in her quest for success, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way. Happily hapless teacher Matthew Broderick is charged with overseeing the election campaign, and conscious that his front-runner is a bit of a nightmare …

Aside from the comedy and political satire, it's a coming-of-age movie of a teenager and her teacher who goes in the opposite direction. Self-control, which is part of growing up is the main theme. Flick, who seems the essence of self-control, is running for class president and goes bananas in the scene where she pulls down her rival's posters. Luck saves her from paying for that and it looks like…