I've seen Election over the last ten years in bits and pieces and I was never interested enough to rent or buy it. Now having the chance to sit through it being a little more experienced in analyzing films, I think it's a good film and I had fun watching it. I just didn't really dig it as much as I thought. The story revolves around Jim McAllister (Broderick), a high school teacher, attempting to thwart goodie goodie Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) in her bid for class president. By the time the story is finished, McAllister loses his job, his wife, and his home...and Flick becomes an aide to a senator.
The irony of it all is amusing, but I suppose I was looking for a little more vulgarity. There are some truly hilarious lines and moments scattered about the film, but they don't show up often enough. This is balanced out by the simple surrealness of some of the situations presented, but it wasn't as laugh out loud as I was expecting from it. It almost gets painful to watch towards the end as Broderick's character is inundated with failure after failure, yet still manages to be entertaining. This allowed the film to walk a fine line that I didn't think movies like Meet the Parents couldn't.
Overall, it's a solid film. There's nothing outwardly bad about it, but nothing really shocking or noteworthy. The plot is straight forward, the characters fit to the genre, but don't push any boundaries. Maybe it's too dated for anyone to see it as fresh. And don't mean to completely tear it apart. It's an enjoyable film, but it just didn't grab me for one reason or another.