Richard Propes' Review B+

I finally saw this film after hearing the raves about it from friends, family and the critics. I'm not sure what took me so long to see it, actually. I'm a fan of both Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, and I tend to enjoy dark comedies immensely. As a film, I enjoyed this experience immensely...yet, after all the build-up of "dark comedy" I found myself oddly disappointed in that aspect of the film. Quite honestly, I didn't really find it that dark at all. That disappointment aside, the performances by Witherspoon and Broderick are brilliant and the writing/direction combo by Alex Payne adds greatly to the film. It works on nearly every level. The film also features a nice performance by Chris Klein, and an appearance by my long-time crush Molly Hagan. I have a hard time saying whether or not "dark comedy" fans will enjoy this film...my gut feeling is to say "yes." I'm quite sure, however, that fans of Alex Payne, Reese Witherspoon or Matthew Broderick will be in heaven with this one.

© Written by Richard Propes

How We Rated This Film TC Candler - B- Richard Propes - B+ Jacob Hall - A

TC Candler's Comment

Lots of big laughs to be found here!

Jacob Hall's Comment

I have high standards for comedy.

Very few things make me laugh. I have often sat through entire comedies without cracking a smile while the rest of the theatre erupted in laughter. You'll find that I have given very few comedies higher than an A-.

That said, "Election" has entered my all time favorite films because it is flat-out hilarious. There were moments where I was in absolute hysterics. It does it all without resorting to cheap gags either. This film is 100% clever and brilliant. Director Alexander Payne will move on to make other great films ("Sideways," "About Schmidt,"), but I doubt any of them will be this funny.