The film stars Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister, a popular high school social studies teacher, and Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick, an overachieving student whom he dislikes.
When Tracy runs for student government president, McAllister sabotages her candidacy by backing a rival candidate and tampering with the ballot count.
Earlier in the year, McAllister's colleague and best friend, geometry teacher Dave Novotny, was fired from his job and divorced by his wife Linda after engaging in a sexual relationship with Tracy.
Appalled by Tracy's unopposed run for student government president and dreading further proximity to her, McAllister persuades Paul Metzler, a popular, good-natured, but dimwitted football player, to enter the race.
She feigns innocence and trades threats with McAllister, but Tammy rescues her by appearing with the torn posters and falsely claiming responsibility.
Tracy attends Georgetown University, where she similarly isolates herself from her peers due to her work-centric nature and is dismayed that many of her classmates were admitted primarily through connections.
The film ends with McAllister at the museum posing a question to a group of elementary school children; an overeager little girl is the only one to very excitedly raise her hand.
Producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa sent director Alexander Payne an unpublished manuscript from novelist Tom Perrotta called "Election" in 1996.
The novel was inspired by the following two key events: the 1992 United States presidential election, in which Ross Perot entered as a third-party candidate (a move echoed by Tammy Metzler), and a 1992 incident at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in which a pregnant student was elected homecoming queen, but staff announced a different winner and burned the ballots to cover it up.
[4][5] The film uses several stylized techniques in its storytelling, particularly through the use of freeze frames, flashbacks, and voiceovers, which allow sections of the narrative to be delivered from the points of view of the four main characters (Mr. McAllister, Tracy, Paul, and Tammy).
[6] The film was primarily shot on location around the Omaha metro area in the fall of 1997,[7][8] most notably in Papillion, Bellevue and the Dundee neighborhood.
The film's original ending, received poorly by test audiences, was not known until a rough workprint was found in a box of VHS tapes at a yard sale in 2011.
The critical consensus reads, "Election successfully combines dark humor and intelligent writing in this very witty and enjoyable film.
[17]Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Brandishes the sort of intelligent wit and bracing nastiness that will make it more appealing to discerning adults than to teens who just want to have fun.
"[6] Desson Howe from The Washington Post recommended the film, saying it was "the satire of the season, a hilarious, razor-sharp indictment of the American Dream," also praising Payne for finding "a perfect fulcrum between humor and tragedy, between black comedy and poignancy.
Witherspoon is slated to reprise her role as Tracy Flick and co-produce under her Hello Sunshine banner, while Payne would return to direct and co-write with Jim Taylor.