I love going to the movies.
I love running this site, and I love the adventure that my life keeps throwing at me.
And.... I love it when I get all cocky, and think I know every movie that’s coming up, and I think I know what to expect everytime I walk in a theater and.... I’M WRONG!
It’s sooooo glorious when movies like ELECTION come out and knock you over the head with every fibre of their being.
Reese Witherspoon captured me in PLEASANTVILLE, and now.... Well, now she is quite simply the most exciting young actress working in film (alongside Christina Ricci).
Hey Guys.... Remember that girl in High School? The one that you always looked at, but never went over to talk to because she was too perfect. She was the peppy go-getter that never said die. The one that dressed just demure enough to drive you over the brink. The one in all the clubs, at the top of the honor roll, and always busy studying and bettering her self? Remember when you were thinking about the ‘senior’ prom, and you thought about calling her, but you couldn’t do it, so ya hung up the phone as quickly as you picked it up?
The rumor around campus was that she was a shrew, that she wasn’t interested in sex, she’d rather study, bake cupcakes or gather your name on a petition.
I remember this girl. I’m not gonna state her name (from my High School) because, a lot of my old High Schoolmates read this site and inevitably she’d read this and get some kick out of it, but ya know.... I know now from this movie that it wasn’t her fault, but mine.
Reese plays a character that exemplifies that ‘wet dream wholesome girl’ from High School. The unapproachable one. Every now and again we see PERFECT casting in the PERFECT film, and she is a case study in that phenomenon.
I finally got to see the otherside of her character up in that Chicago Screening Room, and I can tell you. She was lonely. Sure she had a supportive mother, but because you or I or them never went over to talk to her, she became more and more distant till noone could really mean anything to her.
She became so anal-retentive that all she could do is smile in that, “Aren’t I a Happy Person,” neurotic way. It was never heart-felt lest she had just succeeded in something. Reese’s Tracy Flick character is.... fantastic. And if everything else about this movie sucked the big one.... I’d still recommend it because I don’t know if I’ve ever seen as well delivered subtle neurotic performance as she gave here.
BUT THE REST OF THE FILM DIDN’T SUCK....
Another major key to this film is that with the exception of Witherspoon and Broderick, nearly everybody else is played by actors and actresses that you havn't really seen before. To you... they are merely the characters before you. And that is a JOY! There is no baggage, no history other than the one the filmmakers give us. They are blank slates that we readily accept all the writing upon. I could go into great detail on about 7 additional classic characters, but I'm not going to because... Quite Frankly... They should be introduced in the course of the film.... Except...
Oh Yes, there’s more! On Siskel & Ebert, I said I felt this should be considered the third of what I’m calling Matthew Broderick’s HIGH SCHOOL TRILOGY. WARGAMES, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF and now... ELECTION.
This film is different in that he is now the... Establishment... He’s the teacher. But you know what, he’s still hatching his plans, skipping school and conniving left and right.
I’m not sure what it is about Broderick, but... you know... Seeing him in that classroom, in that school... Well, it just FELT so right. I loved that his character (and those of nearly everyone else in the film) doesn’t recognize their own hypocrisy. This is key to the entire film, and as a result makes this film a biting satire... of not just High School, but life in general.
Here’s an example of this: (Warning.... Harry “Life” story approaching.... Bail out now! Save yourself!)
Last year (1998) at Sundance, on the second night that I was in attendance, I was walking about with some “Real” press members. On this day in question, the story HIT that President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky allegedly shagged in the Oval Office. The writers were upset, they were angry at Clinton because that meant that any story they bagged at Sundance was rendered ineffective for anything other than a footnote. They’d been out-scooped by an extra-marital blowjob.
Ok, so far... A bit of odd prioritizing, but nothing amazingly hypocritical. Well... One of the fellows I was walking with begins to go into how their wife had left to go back to New York or L.A. (Can’t remember) and how he’s finally ‘FREE’. Well, I’m a fairly innocent chap, so I just figured that, by that he meant that his wife must be a nagging bitch, and he was finally able to enjoy the film festival.
Oh no, Forrest Knowles, for later that evening he goes into the “MACK” mode. And starts going into how he’s gonna get ‘Some’ tonight after meeting one lady in question and sparking a bit. Well, I looked this fella in the eye and I said, “So.... Wait a minute, you’re telling me that you have a problem with what President Clinton did, but you’re about to do the same thing?”
This reporter looks at me and with all his years of seasoned reporting skills says, “I hold the Presidency above my own personal lackings.”
What a fucking hypocrite. I mean.... There you go... a case study in hypocrisy, and in this film.... Well, one character inacts the major plot of the film out of fear of possibly having an affair, but meanwhile has another affair that means... less to him.
For me, the film is fantastic in pulling back that sheet, and laying bare quite a bit of the double-standards that we as a society have committed.
I mean.... There are many of us that stand back condemning what happened in Denver and labeling it as a ‘Hollywood Problem’ citing films like PULP FICTION and SCREAM as hallmarks of our destructive youth.
Yet for an entire generation of folks that grew up on THE WILD BUNCH, BULLITT, TAKING OF PELHAM 123, DAWN OF THE DEAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, etc... Well, we didn’t go out killing folks left and right.
I mean... Did Al Capone do what he did cause he saw SCARFACE.... NO, Al Capone created SCARFACE by being who he was. But you know... Hypocrisy is everywhere including me.
But to move further on down the road, we have to be able to recognize it, to classify it as being such, and grow beyond it.
This film helps to recognize it. BUT you know what.... SCREW ALL OF THAT, this film is immensely entertaining. The trailers don’t begin to do the film justice. They should launch this film WIDE, they should spend 15 million on a WITTY and INTELLIGENT ad campaign, then.... Let the folks that pour into the movie leave telling everyone within earshot that they just saw a fantastic film.
Afterall, that is what me and Ebert did, we saw it, then told everyone in earshot to as well. Go see it. Now.
