I can vividly recall the promotional campaign behind ELECTION during its initial 1999 release; I thought it was going to be a rollicking teen comedy focusing on Reese Witherspoon's character seducing teachers for purposes of entrapment- the MTV Films label reinforced such a notion. How wrong I was. The plot was not as simple as that, the movie was not just another rote entry in the youth genre (not that there's anything wrong with another rote entry in the youth genre; those films can be a lot of fun). ELECTION, however, is much more highbrow than one might think.Matthew Broderick plays Jim McAllister, high school teacher. His is an ordinary life, benign, happy, seemingly fulfilled. He's married to a loving, gentle wife, he likes his job, loves the kids he teaches, he's completely ensconced in the normal environs of suburban tranquility. Until Tracy Enid Flick comes along.Miss Flick is a go-getter, pure and simple. It's not that she's necessarily more cerebral than everyone else- she's not so smart that she'll someday cure a disease or design a novel jet propulsion system- but she is uncannily unflappable and incredibly ambitious. She was born with an extremely active overachiever gland, and she has no problem using it. Mr. McAllister is in charge of the school election system. Miss Flick is interested in winning the election. But Jim isn't so sure she deserves to win. When no one else enters the race, he decides to convince former football prodigy Paul Metzler- played by Chris Klein of the AMERICAN PIE features- to run against her; he convinces the laidback, easygoing Metzler that one person running in an election constitutes a quasi-dictatorship. But there's more going on here; Jim can't stand Flick for many reasons, including the fact that the teaching career of his best friend Dave was sidelined due to an affair he initiated with the susceptible straight-A coed. Once McAllister pokes his nose into the affairs of the election, a chain reaction is catalyzed into motion- one which seals his fate and precipitates one of the worst, most tragic downfalls in cinematic history.One of the greatest strengths of Alexander Payne's ELECTION is its use of multiple-viewpoint voiceover; each character involved in the evolving mess gets to share his/her thoughts and observations, which makes for an efficient method of telling the story. Watching as convolution yields to yet more convolution- and spying on the ever-encroaching storm which threatens to decimate McAllister's life- proves to be an exercise in sustained fulfillment. There are many themes and statement present in the piece. The two worlds of teachers and students coexisting in the same locale day-in/day-out always provides useful fodder for complex examination. Broderick's character sees great threat in Flick; granted, he has the understandable motivation in the ruination of his crony, but he also sees yet another type-A extrovert who will go on to future endeavors which will easily surpass his lot in life. On the other side of the mirror, we see the life of the students, more sophisticated than any of us probably assign credit for; we like to think that the bodies of classmates are only interested in getting a quality education, and when they are not, they are up to riffraff activities which, on the whole, amount to indiscretions which are wholly minor in nature. Well, we know such a statement is fanciful and misguided; student bodies are intense sociological dynamics which are every bit as political and rancorous as a national presidential campaign, which is why the use of the election process in the film as the focal point of the arc is very apt both structurally and allegorically. Seeing the results of McAllister's fiddling might teach us two lessons: 1) teachers should stay out of student affairs, and 2) perhaps holding educational elections in school isn't as advisable as one might think; perhaps, instead of being educational, it brings on the corruption that much sooner. ELECTION is not just a civics lesson, however. If you want laughs, there are a lot to be had; Payne effectively sprinkles several belly-scream sequences throughout the proceedings. And he extracts some pristine performances from the entire cast- even the tertiary players shine through. At first, I thought Broderick was going to be a pale echo of his Ferris Bueller character; in fact, that was my initial cynical impression when I first heard of this title: John Hughes's most famous creation as a teacher. But I never once thought of Bueller while watching, not once; Broderick truly succeeded (unlike his failure in the GODZILLA remake). And the very fetching Reese Witherspoon was, as Carson Daly once pointed out, the only person who made sense for her role; she projected the exact demeanor needed for the character, a sort of unselfconscious, controlled display of harried, ladder-climbing desire.There's no dispute concerning this ELECTION...it is the clear winner...