Which School Do You Go To?

Good morning Consumers, This is Please Consume, the movie newsletter that knows that what this town needs is an anima.

The Holdovers is out.

And guess what? It rocks.

So much so that it inspired us to look at some of our favorite schoolhouse movies.

And Tom decided to pick a film from the same director…

Safe to say Alexander Payne was a good student?

 Election (1999)

Written by Tom Fortner

Seeing as The Holdovers is the reason we are doing School Week, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit another Alexander Payne film, Election. It’s literally the perfect movie for this week!

Which School Do You Go To?

Part of Election’s charm is that it’s not a typical “school” movie.

What I mean by that is the film doesn’t really focus on the “school” experience. It’s not a coming of age film, as movies taking place at school normally are, where the main character faces adversity but learns an important lesson along the way. No, Election is much different.

The main reason Election stands out from the crowd is that the lead character and one of the narrators of the film is an adult, namely US Civics teacher Jim McAllister, played by Matthew Broderick in a very un-Ferris Bueller role. More popular as a teacher than he is as a husband, McAllister has taken a great disliking to an overachieving student named Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) and resolves to make her seemingly unchallenged path to student body president a little harder than she expected.

Yeah, this is a pretty uncomfortable premise, especially to our society that’s hyper aware of anything that could lead to abuse of any kind. Because of this premise, this isn’t really a movie for teenagers, which is another way it differs from the norm. That isn’t to say that teens can’t watch it, but it just wasn’t made to appeal to them, just as animated movies aren't usually made for adults. Instead, it’s a black comedy taking a stab at politics in a really dark, unflinching way. 

Fun Fact Time: Barack Obama has twice told Alexander Payne that Election is his favorite political film.

Paul Metzler, You Bet-zler!

One of the best parts of the entire film, in a film full of outstanding performances, is Chris Klein playing Paul Metzler.

Paul is like the nicest guy from Fargo without an accent. He’s the exact opposite of Tracy in every way: he’s nice, popular, athletic… and dumb as a rock. His juxtaposition as Tracy’s opponent is hilarious as he obliviously waltzes toward the nomination with ease. 

And, as much as it sounds really mean to say, he’s just easy to laugh at. In a movie full of people trying their hardest to be happy by chasing the one thing that they think will fix everything, Paul is comfortable being himself. We laugh at him for being who he is, but we love him. We laugh at Tracy or Mr. McAllister because they’re just so pathetic and can’t admit it. 

In a world of Tracys and Pauls, be a smarter Paul.

Today’s Scene