Election (1999)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A high school teacher attempts to sabotage a brilliant student's run for student government president.
The story
Jim McAllister is a well-liked U.S. history and civics teacher at Carver High School in Omaha, Nebraska. One of his students is Tracy Flick, an academically driven and high-achieving junior. When Tracy runs for student government president, McAllister—who dislikes her and fears her influence—attempts to sabotage her candidacy by encouraging a rival candidate, Paul Metzler, to enter the race. The film explores the escalating tensions and maneuvers between the teacher and the student as they navigate the complexities of high school politics and personal motivations.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Jim McAllister, a teacher at Carver High School, becomes obsessed with sabotaging his student Tracy Flick's run for student government president. He recruits Paul Metzler, a popular football player, to run against her. The campaign is complicated by the involvement of Paul's sister, Tammy, who runs as a spoiler candidate. During the campaign, Tracy destroys several posters, but Tammy takes the blame, leading to her expulsion. Jim also engages in a tryst with a former student's mother, Linda. On election day, Tracy wins by one vote, but Jim discards two of her ballots to give the win to Paul. These are later discovered, and Tracy is declared winner. Jim is forced to resign and eventually moves to New York City. Years later, he sees Tracy in D.C. and briefly confronts her before she continues her academic path.
- First release year
- 1999
- Runtime (minutes)
- 103
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Alexander Payne
- Writers
- Alexander Payne · screenplay; Jim Taylor · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Matthew Broderick · Jim McAllister; Reese Witherspoon · Tracy Flick
- Genres
- satirical; black comedy; independent; political satire
- Themes
- politics; high school life; ambition
- Tone and mood
- satirical; black comedy; witty
- Premise and plot tags
- high school; political satire; academic scandal
- Source material / true-story basis
- Tom Perrotta's 1998 novel
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews and was praised for its wit and satire, despite not being a commercial success.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 116
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Adapted Screenplay · 1999 · nomination; Golden Globe · Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical · 1999 · nomination; Independent Spirit Award · Best Feature Film · 1999 · win
- Production trivia
- The film features multiple points of view and voice-overs.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…