Election (1999)

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/153/858775.jpg

It's amazing, easily Alexander Payne's best.

...and Reece Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, and dear Chris Klein's.

close call between this and Freeway for Reese

I went to college with an aspiring writer named Tom Perrotta, who would frequently get email from people asking about "his" books and career. I assume this film made that happen a lot more often.

I liked "About Schmidt" better, but I'm a sucker for road movies.

But that scene where Nicholson gets in a slap-fight with the guy who fucked his wife... priceless.

this is better than about schmidt, but it's better than everything - a perfect movie

listening to the commentary on this its amazing to see how effortless it is considering what an obsessive, autistic level of detail payne brought to it

'this is another lincoln... i had a bit of a lincoln thing in this, a light lincoln theme...' huh??

i remember SOMEBODY on ILE hating on this - maybe Alex In SF

GET HIM

I did like in the commentary how Payne said that the whole movie could 've been called "The Janitor's Revenge".

Maybe it's just Nicholson vs Broderick. Neat how he's got Ferris Bueller on the other side of the desk and Robert Dubea accepting no substitutions.

easily payne's best, long way down thereafter. payne is a snooty dbag who claims he's never seen 'ferris bueller's day off' and got lucky with this one.

I loved and still love Election but was kinda indifferent to About Schmidt. As far as latter-day Nicholson-offerings, I enjoyed "Something's Gotta Give" way more. But, I also liked Sidways lots, so take that as you will...

i've enjoyed all of his movies but "election" is easily the best. kind of a transition between the pure nastiness of "citizen ruth" and the more human "about schmidt" and "sideways," maybe?

i love it when he throws his pepsi at the limo

About Schmidt is terrible.

This film is so redemptive as far as any misgivings I may have had regarding Matthew Broderick.

why would you have misgivings about matthew broderick? other than sarah jessica parker?

i remember liking about schmidt but i only saw it the one time, i've seen election like four or five times and this thread is about election

jaymc, have you seen election? what did you think?

I liked it. I don't remember much about it, though. Kr said the other night (after we watched this) that she wasn't a fan, but I forgot to follow up. You should ask her the next time you see her.

this film is great - his other stuff is all pretty meh (altho Citizen Ruth is funny, copout ending notwithstanding. About Schmidt and Sideways both really annoyed me)

"fuck me mr. mcallister"

why would you have misgivings about matthew broderick? other than sarah jessica parker?

Just vague misgivings, like sjp, I guess...I dunno.

election -- great
citizen ruth -- pretty good
sideways -- eh
about schmidt -- zzzzz

paul... popular.... peanut

I guess I sometimes conflate actors with their roles. In that respect I love his character's all-too-human qualities in Election as contrasted with Ferris Bueller. I mean, I like the Ferris Bueller movie lots, and I recognize the faults of the character underneath the smugness, but still, for me Election played partly as an examination of the Broderick character's vulnerabilities that were glossed over in Bueller. That's a fucked-up way to read movies, I guess, but there ya go.

Wasn't there a discussion on some film thread here about Bueller's sociopathic tendencies?

I absolutely loved Sideways the first time I saw it (maybe because I watched it directly after Closer, one of the most loathsome films ever made). Second time I thought it had some great jokes, but was ultimately quite annoying and full of itself.

xpost - I can totally see how Bueller is a sociopath! Still a top film though.

Wasn't there a discussion on some film thread here about Bueller's sociopathic tendencies?

I took a lot of shit for pointing out that Beuller's basically an unsympathetic exploitative asshole embodying Reagan-era rich-white-selfishness... but what do I know

lol at actually taking Ferris Bueller seriously as a character study.

sideways -- eh

I held out on watching this for 4 years, and when I finally did, it rocked me. But then I am thirty-three.

I wouldn't say I take it seriously, I just don't enjoy it

Election's a 9 or 10, Sideways a 7 or 8, About Schmidt a 6

Ferris Bueller's been worse to the youth vote than standardized testing. But points to John Hughes for the Bryan Ferry poster on Bueller's wall.

I took a lot of shit for pointing out that Beuller's basically an unsympathetic exploitative asshole embodying Reagan-era rich-white-selfishness... but what do I know

Okay, yeah...it wasn't even a proper Bueller thread, though, was it? I'm thinking that it was one of those Apatow throwdowns or something.

Some of the scenes between him and Cameron always struck me weirdly poignant though...there is all kinds of crazy manipulative, but at the same time, knowingly manipulative shit going on there, which always fucks me up.

One of my excuses for enjoying Sideways is my love for the Ned and Stacey dude.

blueski pretty much Otm.

Though I might downgrade About Schmidt a notch...is one of the only reasons that people latched onto that film b/c Nicholson was playing against type/his persona? Because, if so, I think that was dealt with more gracefully and subtly in Something's Gotta Give.

i remember enjoying About Schmidt but it left very little impression on me. It seems to be HATED by some people though. I should watch it again.

yeah i don't get the hate, maybe it was too plodding...LIKE AN OLD MAN.

lol at actually taking Ferris Bueller seriously as a character study.

I dunno; personally, I don't think it's so crazy to read it as being a sad Reagan years update on The Wild One or Rebel...

It seems to be HATED by some people though.

Speaking for myself, I felt this way probably as a reaction to the over-praising it got from critics. I went in expecting something extraordinary. What I got was merely charming and pleasant.

is one of the only reasons that people latched onto that film b/c Nicholson was playing against type/his persona?

One of the reasons I hated that film is that I could detect Nicholson's congratulating himself at playing against type. Plus, the emotions at the end aren't earned when most of the film is about pratfalls, caricatures, and other cheap jokes.

LIKE AN OLD MAN

Yeah, but one thing I remember from watching it is that it seemed like he was playing his version of a caricature of an old man...as great as an actor as he is, I think that his personal eternally arrested adolescent lifestyle led to it being too much of a stretch to take plausibly.

Again, I think Something's Gotta Give took a more honest take on that whole territory, at least as far as Nicholson's performance is concerned.

btw Nicholson HATED Ferris Bueller -- "are these kids trying to put me out of business?" or something.

Really? Wow...

One of my excuses for enjoying Sideways is my love for the Ned and Stacey dude.

haha otm."you wrong biscuit buying slut!!!"

yeah, that show ruled!

Nicholson begrudging Bueller just seems weird, though; there are any number of his performances that one could point to which are filled with such nuance and depth that they put F.B. to shame. It goes without saying that there are no Five Easy Pieces or Carnal Knowledges or what have you in John Hughes' resume.

Yeah, but the audience at whom FB is aimed is expected to applaud FB for his embrace of Reagan-esque values.

sideways is some bullshit.

xpost

Seriously? I thought it was just aimed at a generic, politically-unaligned teen audience. I guess I'm not sure what you're saying.

I took a lot of shit for pointing out that Beuller's basically an unsympathetic exploitative asshole embodying Reagan-era rich-white-selfishness... but what do I know

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, February 7, 2008 12:10 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

so basically he's a teenager

slocki, what didn't you like about Sideways? I'm just curious, b/c I remember all the hype when it came out, but never saw it until last year, under sorta weird circumstances of watching it with family members on cable...so maybe I was partly just grateful for the opportunity of pleasant distraction, and turned whatever critical part of my brain off for the time being.

so basically he's a teenager

Point conceded, partially...but there is a weird aspect to that film in that it does exalt as a hero someone who seems to exhibit a slew of borderline-sociopathic qualities, or at least a ready willingness to exploit the shit out of others with only a modicum of conscience present to keep his charisma in check. One could imagine his character growing up to be a cult leader...or powerful politician?

or Ivan Boesky.

or John DeLorean.

I couldn't stand this movie when it came out. I wonder if I'd like it any better now.

Election = About Schmidt (I am a sap) >> Sideways

election equals about schmidt?

like I said, I like sappy movies.

This movie is amazing, and heart-wrenching in a way that About Schmidt doesn't touch -- because rather than ending on a now-typical "meaningful" fadeout it makes you stare hard at the fact that, in real life, people's lives continue long after the story you're telling about them is over. Shorter version: I also like when he throws the Coke at the car.

One of my three favorite movies ever.

Shorter version: I also like when he throws the Coke at the car.

Yeah, I really need to watch this film again before too long. That scene in particular pretty much blows away anything in American Beauty, or any other film that one might be tempted to compare with Election.

him pitching his drink uselessly against the back of the car is possibly one of the most poignant and awesome things ever captured in a motion picture not based on a true story

I think we can all agree that election is way better than American fucking Beauty.

Tombot's post, by virtue of its pithy eloquence has left me speechless. Shit.

The weird thing is, as much as I love this movie, I only saw it the one time, when it came out in theaters. I'm worried that if I see it again I'll pollute the near-perfection of this experience.

Up until the Margo Martindale segment of Paris je t'aime, Election was the only thing preventing me from really strongly disliking Payne. (Citizen Ruth's alright, but mostly because of Dern.)

But Election, which is awesome (i.e. kid in wheelchair running unopposed for student body vice-president), was enough.

xpost

Nah, I've seen it at least a couple of times and I'm inclined to think that a second viewing would be alright.

I remember thinking this was misogynistic when I saw it but I was only a couple years out of my New Moon magazine subscription back then, think I ought to reexamine it with eyes that have an eighth grade diploma under their belt

i remember being torn between intense loathing for reese witherspoon's character and considerable lust for ms witherspoon herself

harmonious and productive

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/slate/house/jan/120x240v2TracyFlick.jpg

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/slate/house/jan/120x240v2TracyFlick.jpg

I took a lot of shit for pointing out that Beuller's basically an unsympathetic exploitative asshole embodying Reagan-era rich-white-selfishness... but what do I know

no i think that's a good point. but that's why he was a hero to us white suburban kids. he showed that you can get away with anything if you're rich white kids. which was inspiring even if you weren't rich. it really is a sort of recruiting poster for the lifestyle. john hughes knew his audience.

(which is why we still love him. he was there for us man.)

man I just think y'all might be politicizing ferris a bit much. sure, he's obv white and from an affluent suburb, but he's just a glib, rambunctious 17 year old. Would he be more sympathetic if he'd skipped school to huff rubber cement in his step-dad's double-wide?

i loved this movie a lot when it came out, but sideways was so awful that it's kind of tainted everything Payne's done in retrospect for me.

i liked sideways actually. i mean, the yuppie wine shit was zzzzzzzzzz but i thought it was funny.

when david brooks or somebody wrote a column last year about whatever happened to middlebrow culture, sideways was the first thing i thought of. it's ironic middlebrow, but it's still sort of proudly middlebrow. which i think is fine, middlebrow culture deserves some respect. but i think that's payne's whole orientation.

(even election is sort of a middlebrow tragedy. poor shlub realizes how world works.)

fair enough. what is high brow these days though?

I recently rewatched Election, and I think it's a well made but also quite a confusing film. Like, it doesn't really seem to know what it's trying to say: it makes fun of Witherspoon's character for being a political go-getter, but on the other hand it also presents Broderick's character as a pathetic loser. So if it's supposed to be a satire it's sort of lacking an edge, unless the only point is that everyone sucks. Also, there's a weird misogynic vibe going on in the film (especially regarding Witherspoon, but also Broderick's love affair), and I'm not sure whether it's supposed to reflect the attitude of Broderick's character or the attitude of the director.

alfred i think it's perfectly legitimate to look at what's communicated by particular characters in particular movies - just because you think it's beneath you doesn't mean it isn't interesting for other people

i love this film. It's such a quiet little gem that doesn't cause a fuss and doesn't expect anything from itself or the viewer, but manages to keep me captivated througout.

still not as good as Wargames though which is arguably my favourite Brod movie

You can make fun of the Tracy Flick's of this world as much as you like - the're still going to 'win'.

I wondered for a long time if we would ever get a female Ferris Bueller onscreen. I suppose Juno comes closest, except she's possibly even more cynical, less enthused and go-getty.

i don't think it's as judgemental as you make out, tuomas

my objection to Sideways isn't that it's middlebrow. i love middlebrow, if i even know what that means. Sideways is gross, though.

how so?

i don't think it's as judgemental as you make out, tuomas

-- blueski, Thursday, February 7, 2008 12:40 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

i agree. that's what i like about this movie. and i'm not surprised it confused tuomas, who seems to yearn for a straightforward and comfortable moral reckoning in art.

The book is much less cartoony, tho I like the film.

i don't think it's very judgemental, both mr. m and tracy do awful things for understandable reasons

and i don't really know where the misogyny claims are coming from, other than that it has a vaguely unsympathetic female lead?

him pitching his drink uselessly against the back of the car is possibly one of the most poignant and awesome things ever captured in a motion picture not based on a true story

Says it all...

my favorite moment in election, and my favorite reese witherspoon moment period, is when she finds out she's won and starts jumping up and down in the empty hallway. payne shoots her from the middle distance, kind of giving tracy the moment to herself. it crystalizes her character, and humanizes her too. it's a very sweet scene.

haha his little blue car was the roffles

it still makes me laugh every time the way Klein's character Paul says so blase yet earnestly "My leg wasn't bugging me too much, and the weather was so nice, and every day after school Lisa and I would go to her house to fuck and have a hot tub."

i don't really know where the misogyny claims are coming from

Clinton voters.

how th hell is half this thread about ferris bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

Nice work with the FLICK cupcakes that looked like a different word.

Haha, never twigged that before. I am stupid.

Pick Flick!

payne shoots her from the middle distance, kind of giving tracy the moment to herself. it crystalizes her character, and humanizes her too.

I agree. Another nice moment: Flick crying in her bedroom, with her Mrs. Spears-like Mom comforting her.

This movie is so completely on-point. It's just fantastic.

"Sideways" is also fantastic.

the weird screaming native american music cue whenever tracey gets angry is my favorite movie music since the yodelling in raising arizona

I love the freeze on Tracey's face just before Broderick launches into a load of exposition about her. Her facial expression is genius.

Anyone who's read the novel: is it written in the various character's voices ala the movie's multiple VOs, or was that Payne's idea?

yeah not getting the Sideways hate. I can't say I especially loved it and it was likely over-praised at the time. Which I also seem to remember leading to a meta dissection of the critical praise. (i.e. lol feel-good movie for malcontent culture-snobs lol). But I still enjoyed it.

well, maybe not "feel-good"

My mum hated Sideways because, and I quote, "It's a middle-aged man's wank fantasy".

but as those go, funnier than Leaving Las Vegas or Before Sunset.

I think the thing I liked so much about "Sideways" was how all of this relatively light-hearted farce was mapped over some incredibly heart-wrenching events (THC's total fear of commitment and its attendant fallout; PG's incredibly deluded lovesickness). The final confrontation between PG and his ex is super harsh and (I thought) awesomely staged and acted.

Yeah, I thought it was a lot less forgiving on its leads than my mum did. Add Giamatti's borderline alcoholism to the stuff Dan said.

'forgiving TO its leads'

I love the freeze on Tracey's face just before Broderick launches into a load of exposition about her. Her facial expression is genius.

Anyone who's read the novel: is it written in the various character's voices ala the movie's multiple VOs, or was that Payne's idea?

-- chap, Thursday, February 7, 2008 4:06 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

he didn't tell her about the freeze frame when they shot the scene haha. i think he came up with it in the editing room.

I saw this doc on editing which had an interview w/Payne and he admitted that when cutting Election he was influenced by The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly in terms of freezing on close-ups and such.

the weird screaming native american music cue whenever tracey gets angry is my favorite movie music since the yodelling in raising arizona

-- n/a, Thursday, February 7, 2008 11:01 AM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

this is morricone's theme from navajo joe!! it was in kill bill too

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4362/vmsy400sx600bt5.jpg

totally didnt notice the fuck thing hahahah

I'd like to point out that this is the only film I can think of where product placement is actually rather cleverly and naturally integrated into the storyline and the characters, and is done in such a way that it explicitly equates one of the products (Pepsi - he throws a PEPSI at the car not a coke!) with being a loser

I seem to remember Perrotta switching first-person narrators by chapter too. (The Klein jock is not a moron in the book, either)

"Looks like you could use a CUPCAKE!"

For 12 seconds I thought Chris Klein was cute.

this thread is making me regret throwing out my VHS copy of this movie

Reese is cute, for someone who looks a human bulldog.

xp: C Klein is way cuter than the guy Katie Holmes left him for

yeah, but he was such an SP.

when david brooks or somebody wrote a column last year about whatever happened to middlebrow culture, sideways was the first thing i thought of. it's ironic middlebrow, but it's still sort of proudly middlebrow. which i think is fine, middlebrow culture deserves some respect. but i think that's payne's whole orientation.

-- tipsy mothra, Thursday, 7 February 2008 08:06 (10 hours ago) Link

lol what ISN'T middlebrow these days? oscar voters and film comment finding middle ground on 'no country' and 'milkshake' == middlebrows have won.

which is fine but what does this guy even mean by 'what happened to it?'?

what is high brow these days?

David Lynch

highbrow is furriners whose unseen movies leave PT Anderson in the dust (Jia, Weerasethakul, Hong, Tsai etc)

yep. figured as much.

I thought you hated Jia, Morbs.

I love all those dudes, but I'm really not interested in claiming them as "highbrow".

betcha you can't name three living 'highbrow' filmmakers working in the US

1. Brett Ratner
2. Uwe Boll
3. Keenan Ivory Wayans

Who gives a shit?

x-p

ahhh, Little Man

x-post

4. Paul Haggis

(i'm totally kidding, i think the whole highbrow/middlebrow/lowbrow distinction is wicked retarded)

^

no, the only Jia film I've found wanting was The World.

Yeah, Fools Gold or Passio. all the same. FART

ps. i really liked sideways and schmidt and ruth and election, and i think that together they make up a neat little canon of very american films about this country, in the present tense. they are praised out of proportion, sure, and sometimes for the wrong reasons ('touching'! 'incisive'!) but they make great use of low-key ironic/comic detachment to tell vaguely realistic stories, while avoiding the So Serious kitchen-sink realism that is the usual provenance of 'highbrow' stories

for the record, i don't think any of them are brilliant. but all of them are entertaining, humane, and unique little trifles

^^^ yes

after election i was kinda disappointed by sideways but really the only thing payne did that i hated was jurassic park 3

though i think election actually is brilliant and the rest are entertaining humane and unique trifles

I never saw Passio, but it seems like burning the negative after screening your movie in a couple of churches is a pretty easy way to pass for highbrow.

or just good PR.

So Serious kitchen-sink realism sounds "middlebrow" to me.

The contempt for the characters is what made About Schmidt unbearable to me. A friend who liked it said, Well yeah, fuckin' Middle American assholes, hooray for honesty.

it might be a matter of parsing: i read payne's portrayal of silly Middle Americans as self-inclusive and knowing, not contemptuous and condescending. there are pretty pervasive thematic resonances of redemption and transcendence running through most of his characters: they are broken and battered and weird, but at heart still good, solid, hopeful people.

yesterday i listened to tony gilroy on 'the treatment.' he talked very poignantly about about how the true meat of the american story is in the phrase 'a few minutes too late' –- a conceit i think payne knows and employs very very well.

they are broken and battered and weird, but at heart still good, solid, hopeful people.

Isn't this patronizing? I don't want Schmidt redeemed -- he's a shit.

as usual people who accuse directors of hating their characters are projecting because they hate the characters themselves

The contempt for the characters is what made About Schmidt unbearable to me.

yeah I couldn't bear this either

i think kathy bates & dermot mulroney are gross caricatures that almost ruin the film but everybody else is nuanced + great

telling stories about people the author hates is as old as fiction ethan wtf

that's kind of mean and off the mark, to my eyes

im not saying that no director has ever made a movie about characters they hated, just that i dont think alexander payne is that dude

look how excited he is to cast all these normal people - do you think he's laughing at the janitor in election or the waitress in about schmidt?

so what if he's a shit, alfred? the whole conceit of the movie is the redemption of a once-decent guy who's turned/been turned into an asshole by the unpleasant business of his life. why would you honestly begrudge his elevation at the end of the film? his return to humanity from asshole crotchetyhood?

and why would you suggest it is patronizing?

nobody has said you have to like the character: it's hard to do so, because he's such an ornery old grump, but he is relatable to an awful lot of people (n1) and that – surely – makes a better film than him sitting in the cold, alone, wallowing in self-pity at the end of the film.

(n1) i'd say 'most', but i'm anticipating a high-and-lofty response from somebody who 'can't' relate)

(please forgive my terribly quick writing, i am switching between two documents @ work)

(i'm totally kidding, i think the whole highbrow/middlebrow/lowbrow distinction is wicked retarded)

It was perhaps once useful, but it's pretty much obsolescent nowadays.

how else could you rationalize watching all those 'quality' TV shows on DVD?

(n1) i'd say 'most', but i'm anticipating a high-and-lofty response from somebody who 'can't' relate)

You can call Shakey by name.

shut the fuck up dr morbius

eat shit Three Six Mafia lamo

are you really turning your nose up at all television?

no, just The OC

Morbs, I was going to say something about how TV does certain things differently than film and there are therefore reasons why one might want to watch a TV show instead of a film (which is not to say either medium is "better"), but I think Ethan expressed my sentiment better.

lol you guys (and what, Dr Morbius) know you're a sitcom, right?

I don't think I've ever said anything about The OC being a "quality" show!

true story: i got in an argument with josh schwartz (at a bar mitzvah, none the less) when we were in high school in RI, but i doubt he remembers.

I don't think Payne hates the characters in Election, but I remember About Schmidt striking me as way more jaundiced and just using its characters as caricatures.

and that – surely – makes a better film than him sitting in the cold, alone, wallowing in self-pity at the end of the film

granted I've only seen this movie once and it was a long time ago but I could've sworn this IS how it ended...?

eat shit Three Six Mafia lamo

bring back changeable usernames

Schmidt opens a surprise letter from Tanzania. It is written by a nun who cares for Ndugu, and she writes briefly but warmly that Ndugu is illiterate but enjoys Schmidt's letters and financial aid very much. With the financial aid, Ngudu was able to receive much needed medical care. The little boy's hand-drawn picture is enclosed, showing two smiling stick figures, one large and one small, holding hands in the blazing sun.

yeah but he's still sitting in his room alone and miserable...? I thought that whole ending was just to show how that letter brought him no satisfaction and didn't change his life one bit.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/projection-tv-front-projection.jpg
shakey mo watching a movie^^^

surprised no-one here has weighed in on 'chuck and larry' yet.

shakey mo, you interpret that scene utterly the opposite way i do

that's the one we don't talk about (xp)

btw ethan I am not a lonely old man

The full Wikipedia excerpt:

When he returns home to Omaha, his narrative to the orphan Ndugu questions what he has ever accomplished in his life. A pile of mail is waiting for him inside the empty house. Schmidt opens a surprise letter from Tanzania. It is written by a nun who cares for Ndugu, and she writes briefly but warmly that Ndugu is illiterate but enjoys Schmidt's letters and financial aid very much. With the financial aid, Ngudu was able to receive much needed medical care. The little boy's hand-drawn picture is enclosed, showing two smiling stick figures, one large and one small, holding hands in the blazing sun. Schmidt weeps with emotion and the film ends.

Clearly the emotion being expressed is revulsion and self-loathing at being empty and worthless, not being overwhelmed that he did actually have a massively positive impact on someone else's life.

xpost shakey, you've fooled everyone on ilx

um people cry for lots of reasons

some weirdos even get upset when people die

like forgotten MST3K actors

shed a lot of tears over Anna Nicole, eh ethan

i need to rent this movie again

"About Schmidt" or "Election"?

i'm thinking both. little double feature action.

i seem to remember about schmidt ending on a pretty low note.

jurassic park 3 was good.

The first and fourth seasons of the O.C. are pretty quality.

some weirdos even get upset when people die

-- and what, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:04 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

like forgotten MST3K actors

-- Dr Morbius, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:05 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

nice scale of human worth there

what in hell did Payne have to do with JP3, one draft of the script? and why would anyone know?

he wrote it, it was pretty well publicized actually.

dr morbius shut the fuck up

it originally ended with a raptor alone in his room crying.

which is fine but what does this guy even mean by 'what happened to it?'?

i think brooks was lamenting the death of the 1950s middlebrow -- meaning mostly i think white men with ivy league degrees on network tv explaining classical music and modern art to the masses.

i don't think the distinction has disappeared, but it's changed. if anything the pop/postmodern interbreeding of high and low brow has left middlebrow kind of out there on its own, to be mocked on all those "lol npr" threads.

I find that imagining Ethan as Ed Helms' character from "The Office" interacting with Morbs as Neil Patrick Harris' character from "How I Met Your Mother" with Shakey lurking on the edges as Jon Cryer's character from "Two and a Half Men" makes these threads that much more entertaining.

I guess the fact that Nicholson's character is returning home after failing to connect with his daughter (or stop her wedding) and is still alone and miserable led me to interpret his crying at the letter as a sign of complete and total defeat (as opposed to weeping with joy or redemption).

x-post

who am i?? xp

why haven't you ppl who've read 'ethan's' posts for years had him killed, again?

I thought Shakey was more the Jim Belushi character from According to Jim.

with Shakey lurking on the edges as Jon Cryer's character from "Two and a Half Men"

...

honestly I have no idea what this means

Jim Belushi!?! okay now that's going TOO FAR

Honestly, s1ocki? Chandler Bing.

(don't hurt me)

Dan with the quality-sitcom refs going over our heads

Honestly, s1ocki? Chandler Bing.

(don't hurt me)

-- HI DERE, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:16 PM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

you're such a monica.

Does that mean we're fucking???????????

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

so what if he's a shit, alfred? the whole conceit of the movie is the redemption of a once-decent guy who's turned/been turned into an asshole by the unpleasant business of his life. why would you honestly begrudge his elevation at the end of the film? his return to humanity from asshole crotchetyhood?

he's redeemed by loving a boy named Ngudu via penpal letter and Kathy Bates teaching him the joys of obese sex?

My point is that the film says nothing new about alienation and the effect of bureaucracy on the soul. Nicholson's remark at the time that he found a way to play Schmidt by combing his hair a certain style illustrates just how shallow his/Payne's approach was.

ABORT ABORT ABORT ABORT ABORT ABORT

You are Mac from "Night Court". I am Michael from "Good Times".

^^ actors always say shit like that. xp

lololol. xp.

they actually got gay-married on the night court season finale

if "saying something new" is the benchmark of success, i don't know how you handle a vast majority of films, not to mention ILX

xpost

"Ndugu," I mean. I almost wrote "Nboootie" – that's how Jack says it anyway.

gukbe, have you ever been to the movies?

they actually got gay-married on the night court season finale

-- and what, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:25 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

OH NO

You are Rin Tin Tin. I am Mr. Ed.

i saw jurassic park 3

You are Rin Tin Tin. I am Mr. Ed.

-- HI DERE, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:27 PM (31 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

in real life mr. ed raped rin tin tin to death :(

jp3 was garbage, and i say this as a defender of jurassic park 2: the lost world

seriously, it was as unwatchable as a movie featuring sam neill, william h macy, tea leoni and michael jeter could possibly be

leoni is the only one who seems to "get" the dinosaur thing

it may have already been said and ties in with judgementalism issue alluded to upthread but maybe the greatest thing about this movie is that all of the main characters remain reasonably likeable throughout and i found it quite easy to sympathise with them all fairly evenly.

i'm thinking both. little double feature action.

I don't think either of these movies include that.

S1OCKI WE'RE DOOMED

yr defending lost world?

that's the worst of the three by far

xxx-post

jp3 is good. barely 80 minutes. 10 minutes of set up, then drop 'em on the island, let 'em run from dinosaurs, then military shows up, end. i appreciate a film that does what it's meant to without taking up too much of my time.

jurassic 3 is better than 2 (altho 2 seemed a lot better the second/third times)

lost world sooooo bad

JP3 vs. T3

jp3 had better dinos and was mercifully short

xxxxxx-post

ha

I didn't see JP3 but T3 was fucking awesome.

jeezus, Payne & Taylor really did (co-)write Chuck & Larry. Have they disowned the result?

ending of T3 v ending of About Schmidt

obviously Jurassic Park 4 is going to be the best movie ever you guys

lost world ending is garbage but theres goldblum & the seriously exciting trailer/cliff scene

t3 is better than all these movies though really

you'd figure after sideways being pretty successful, payne wouldn't have to crank out shit* like 'chuck and larry', which makes me think he really wanted to do it.

*even if one thinks sideways is "shit", it is certainly a different kind of "shit" than chuck and larry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYy0H1wuMYA

payne disowned chuck & larry after sandler came on, insisting it was 'sandlerized' - his o.g. ending was the two dudes actually falling in love

Nicholson's remark at the time that he found a way to play Schmidt by combing his hair a certain style illustrates just how shallow his/Payne's approach was.

It's very, very common for actors to find their way with little things like this. What Nicholson said he did here is called "working from the outside in" and it's not a superficial way to approach a character.

played by dan and slocki xp

Nicholson's remark at the time that he found a way to play Schmidt by combing his hair a certain style illustrates just how shallow his/Payne's approach was what a hilarious motherfucker Jack really is.

Morbius, would you rather have to watch the Wire or Chuck & Larry?

It's very, very common for actors to find their way with little things like this. What Nicholson said he did here is called "working from the outside in" and it's not a superficial way to approach a characte

Yeah, I know, the Brits do it all the time, but it didn't work here.

payne disowned chuck & larry after sandler came on, insisting it was 'sandlerized' - his o.g. ending was the two dudes actually falling in love

More here:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/07/payne_and_taylo.php

The only time that approach has worked for Jack is in Prizzi's Honor.

Damn it, why do you people have to be entertaining on a day when I have so much work?

Yeah, I know, the Brits do it all the time, but it didn't work here.

uh, what?

maybe the greatest thing about this movie is that all of the main characters remain reasonably likeable throughout and i found it quite easy to sympathise with them all fairly evenly.

OTM - everybody in Election does stupid/wrong shit and is fairly delusional, but each is also humanized and made sympathetic at key points in the film.

here meaning, in this movie, or in america? xp

Uh, pretty sure he meant the movie, otherwise he would have said "doesn't".

meaning on ILX

Yeah, I know, the Brits do it all the time, but it didn't work here.

uh, what?

The Brits do the outside-in "character-building" approach more often.

payne disowned chuck & larry after sandler came on, insisting it was 'sandlerized' - his o.g. ending was the two dudes actually falling in love

More here:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/07/payne_and_taylo.php

-- jaymc, Thursday, February 7, 2008 9:37 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

that's not what it says there

yeah i just heard that, i guess its not actually true

lol

PANCAKES

i was confusing it with the night court season finale

that shit was b-a-n-a-n-a-s

charles robinson rapin' laroquette with a gavel and a clown wig

Getting raped with a clown wig: C/D

that's a classic "didn't know whether to laugh or to cry" scenario

yes

clown wig started out as a merkin on the end of the gavel but didn't know where to stop

http://www.my-magic-store.com/product/images/clown_wig.gif

Mommy!
Fuck it!

yo 'chuck and larry' isn't like A MILLION MILES from 'citizen ruth' and as fer possible 'they fall in love' ending -- payne and taylor copped out on ending 'ruth' definitively amirite?

it's not a great film.

did it originally end with ruth falling in love with the fetus and making out with it?

in a gay, gay way

ew

homophobic much

i dunno, sexual relations with a fetus is pretty gross no matter how you slice it

er, perhaps "slice it" was a poor choice of words

"Since I grew up without a dad, you might assume, psychologically, I was looking for a father figure. But that had nothing to do with it at all. It was just that Dave was so strong, and he made me feel so safe and protected..."

this movie still brings the lols

how miscarriage is a 'copout' I'm not sure

line latebloomer quoted ftw

meh

what was that whole Happiness/Very Bad Things/Election circa 1999 thing where just like exponentially shitty things happen to people in the suburbs

election is nothing like those other two you munch

I'd be happy to discuss that with you, Whiney, but I'm busy searching for old ILB threads to revive so I can be all, "Baseball? Whatever."

http://bestjamaica.com/images/aloe-vera.jpg

Such a classic. One of the only movies that makes my skin crawl. New Criterion remaster looks fantastic.

total classic

I went to a special screening of Election last night, part of a series called Bechdel Tested that a local rep runs. The details, if you’re interested.

The introductory panel was good. The four women talked about their political careers--the film wasn’t discussed. That was limited to two of the organizers just before they introduced the panel. One of them clearly had major problems with the film: she talked about its casual treatment of rape, and warned that there were “male-gazey” parts. “Feel free to hiss and boo” (verbatim quote), she said, because “parts of it deserve to be hissed and booed” (paraphrase).

I had two reactions. As a fan of Election, I thought that taking such broad farce at face value was a little off-course--it’d be like getting all worked up about the treatment of Russians in Dr. Strangelove. The creepiest character, Dave, is a buffoon writ large: it’s impossible to miss that. I don’t know that there’s a single male character in the film, McAllister included/especially, who isn’t presented as an object of ridicule. (Maybe the one male student who does the first vote count is okay.) The film’s/director’s/writer’s sympathy is with, if anyone, Tammy Meltzer--and even she, in her quixotically romantic reveries, doesn’t escape un-ridiculed.

Put all that aside, though--good points for discussion, before or after the film. It was the invitation to boo or hiss that really agitated the filmgoer part of me. This is a film you’re hosting, and that people have paid $13 to see. With something like Election, older and very well known, the audience is probably going to consist of a few people who haven’t seen it, and a lot of people like me who are there because they have and they like it (with people who are primarily there for the event scattered across both groups). Booing and hissing, if there is any, that’s the kind of thing that could ruin the film for me.

There was a 10-minute break between the panel and the film, and as people milled about, I went up to the host and basically said exactly that. I was kind of nervous: began by saying it was a great panel, and then--one of the panelists had talked about how men are always voicing complaints to her that they would never direct at a man--assured her that I’d be saying exactly the same thing if she were a man. (Truthfully, I’d be much more inclined to complain to a man, because I was aware, and slowed down by, the realization that I was about to engage in that tiresome cliché that begins with an ‘m’ and ends with a ‘g.’ You can believe that or not.) She quietly responded that those were fair points. I wasn’t sure if she actually thought they were fair points or if she just wanted me to go back to my seat.

I didn’t necessarily feel all that great when I walked away, but once the film started, I was glad I spoke up. Sure enough--because some people are stupid, and if you tell them to do x, y, or z then they’ll do x, y, or z, especially if they think it’ll be met with approval from the people around them--there was booing and hissing here and there. Not nearly enough to matter, but anyone seeing it for the first time would have missed some dialogue. Some of the derision sounded a little confused, to say the least. My favourite was the scene where McAlister confronts Tracy on Dave’s firing. Every one of McAlister’s lines is countered and undermined by something much sharper and cutting from Tracy, ending with her threat of legal action from her mom’s lawyer. It was like, “Boohiss--wait a minute...Boohiss--wait a minute...Boohiss--wait a minute.” Or when the dreaded c-word showed up, but voiced by Tammy--a couple of not-very-hearty hisses. Is it actually Tammy saying that, or the male/director saying it by proxy? The people hissing sounded like they might have been right in the middle of sorting that question out. Good art is complicated.

There was a nice ovation for the film at the end. 7/10 on the ovation scale--not thundering, but very deserved, I’d say.

My god

christ

imo panels should not make comments before the movie. for exactly the reasons you stated

I saw this for the first time last week as it happens

It's good

I like the idea of this series in theory, and it is exactly the kind of thing I'd be going to if I lived in TO (or had the time/money/patience to drive 2 hours to attend a screening), but in practice it sounds like it turned into a bit too much of a humourless Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and yeah, I'd be pissed.

The film’s/director’s/writer’s sympathy is with, if anyone, Tammy Meltzer

I agree with this. The film does even occasionally align its sympathies with Tracy, I'd argue.

yeah i always thought the film explicitly sided with Tracy as the hero. i mean, what more do you need than the last scene? jealous, conniving, impotent, pathetic man chucking a milkshake at a successful woman's town car. and then he runs away like the rat he is. i mean, it's obvious

I do not understand why "panel -> drinks -> movie" would make any sense to a thoughtful person as a good run of show. It should be exactly the opposite.

flappy did you not perceive that Tracy's striving-yet-entitled haughtiness and gratuitous ambition might not be the characteristics of a hero

i mean, it's obvious

How did this guy go from such sharp, vicious satires to lame "what's life all about?" movies?

Something else that happened, which I couldn't really hear at the time because there was so much noise: they took the last audience question for the panel, and then, when a guy tried to ask one more question--and decided it would be a good idea to say "Can a man ask a question?" at an event called Bechdel Tested, in a audience that was probably 75% female--he was shouted down.

http://twitter.com/hashtag/bechdeltested?src=hash

Not sure how I feel about this. Questioning had stopped, and it sounded like he was grandstanding a bit. On the other hand, I hate mob-mentality in any context. Like when I was at a Dalton Trumbo documentary once, with Donald Sutherland speaking, and a guy got up and tried to say "But wouldn't you agree that Russia was doing some awful things in the midst of the McCarthy Era...". I didn't know if the guy had something valid to say or not--he was shouted down just as he was getting started, egged on by Sutherland.

Well now I'm confused, surely one or the other of them has to be the entirely sympathetic hero xps

i'm definitely against alcohol in movie theaters, and certainly at a paneled screening

xp well she's very Hillary-esque, and HRC is a hero/ role model despite her problems. I think the film portrays Tracy in the same way- ruthless but not entirely selfish and certainly not as pathetic and apathetic as almost everyone else in the film

I do not understand why "panel -> drinks -> movie" would make any sense to a thoughtful person as a good run of show. It should be exactly the opposite.

The film does even occasionally align its sympathies with Tracy, I'd argue.

Occasionally, I think it does too, especially in her confrontation with McAlister over Dave. Most of the time, though, I'd go with the idea of her as Nixon. (Last night, Tammy suddenly seemed like Trump during her speech in the gym: elect me so I can tear everything down.)

Yeah, panels should go after the movie. Keep any introductory comments under five minutes, don't prime the audience to react a certain way, and have a Q&A afterwards if you want to get the audience involved.

oh yeah clemenza otm re: tammy as trump

Panels after the movie are a much better idea in general, but this panel wasn't talking about the film at all, so beforehand seemed okay. The provocation came from the hosts, not the panel.

Yeah, panels should go after the movie. Keep any introductory comments under five minutes, don't prime the audience to react a certain way, and have a Q&A afterwards if you want to get the audience involved.

― jmm, Monday, February 19, 2018 12:31 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes! i saw agnes varda's VAGABOND last year at a film festival, sold out theater w/ hundreds of people, Beach House presented, only comments beforehand were from victoria legrand: "I really love this movie, and I really love this character. hope you like it, too."

Panels have been a good idea precisely once in history

The Obama Death Panels, obviously.

there's a reason they put them before the movie unless the doors are locked

kinda off topic but that's why i never read reviews or much advance press or go out of my way to watch trailers for movies before i see them. i remember as a young kid obsessively watching trailers for movies i was psyched to see (god, i must've watched the trailers for both Kill Bills hundreds of times, not exaggerating), and all that stuff just shades your perception of the film and dulls its impact

Occasionally, I think it does too, especially in her confrontation with McAlister over Dave. M

Agree with this. The one indisputably sympathetic moment come when Tracy, in voice-over, admits she still misses Dave and their talks; Witherspoon is good at suggesting Tracy's loneliness.

The other thing is--and you have to step back a bit from Tracy herself--is that she's obviously right: the idea that anyone would vote for Paul before her to run anything is ludicrous.

paul... popular.... peanut
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, February 6, 2008 7:05 PM

Man, I laughed at that line last night.

totally disagree that the film sees Tracy as Nixon, she's totally a Hillary analogue

or, rather, public perceptions of Hillary.

That's a better analogy--although there's some Nixon in Hillary, too. (I won't post the infamous Obama/Hillary/Election video from 2008 yet again. And hope this doesn't veer off into one more Hillary discussion...)

does Tracy at any point feel guilt for her part in ruining Dave's life? I don't remember.

I keep coming back to this film, especially because I work in education. I just love how almost all the characters are deeply flawed people who are almost always portrayed in a sympathetic way while they do dumb things without much in the way of self awareness. This really tallies with my experience of life in general.

(xpost) I don't think she does, and I don't think she needs to--that's what's hashed out in the scene in McAlister's office, when he calls her in about the destroyed posters. He tries to tell her that she needs to take responsibility for her part in ruining a guy's career, and she totally destroys that idea.

yeah i always thought the film explicitly sided with Tracy as the hero.

I don't get how anyone can watch this movie and think there's a "hero" in it

she pays lip service to him in v.o., but it's not really sincere ("i miss our talks," and then iirc, something like "he should've know what he was getting into" and then that hilarious moment when she says "i hope he's doing well, working on his novel" -cut to dave pricing beans in a grocery store)

or, rather, public perceptions of Hillary.

yes, but not strictly that. ultimately tracy is an aspirational figure: escaped out of omaha with noble political goals. she may be motivated by typical politician narcissism, but she has good intentions. she's not a corrupt figure

I found the kid who counted votes (and who spit on McAlister's car) the most insufferable of them all. I've known quite a few of these literalist by-the-book self-righteous types (and, of course, he is correct and McAlister looks even worse when he suggests the kid's incompetent).

She has intentions fuelled only by ambition and narciscissm she's no heroine

xxxp it's not clear cut but Tracy is absolutely the hero- emerging out of a broken home, a fucked up relationship, and serious ratfucking by a vengeful middle-aged man. not to mention the entire student body aligned against her. again, the last scene makes it obvious imo

Camaraderie @ AL, that's a good description of why I feel no need to see this again despite loving it. Just like dozens of other movies I loved in the theater on first viewing and they're really important to me and I'll never, ever need to watch them again because so much of everyday life and us assholes who populate it are reminders of the themes, scenes and feelings from the film.

flappy bird your reading of Tracy's character is bonkers

She has intentions fuelled only by ambition and narciscissm she's no heroine

― rum dmc (darraghmac), Monday, February 19, 2018 12:59 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this describes 99% of politicians, and while i don't necessarily disagree, she at least focuses her ambition toward a more noble goal than everyone else in the film.

49% of the student body != the entire student body, your argument sucks

(xposts) I like that guy! I don't think he was self-righteous, he just knew he'd counted the votes correctly and was perplexed as to why the numbers didn't add up. (Spitting on the car was just kind of flourish to punctuate McAlister's abject downfall--maybe didn't need to be there.)

Tracy really doesn't need to have any sympathy for Dave, but her reaction is more interesting as she views the relationship through this prism of individual responsibility rather than personal feelings of animosity for having taken advantage of her.

yea it's actually very reminiscent of Monica Lewinsky's view of her relationship with Bill Clinton, which is coincidental because her interview with Barbara Walters aired the same month Election came out.

@tombot - good point, tho tbf we never hear from any Tracy stans. but you're right

and actually i'd argue that that is another analogue to HRC- the disinterest and derision crowds out the considerable support

Tracy's politics are never explicitly stated, but it's clear she is going to be a callous Randian type, this film is sympathetic with her as a person but clearly she is going to be a normal, horrible career politician.

The movie does not presuppose that we the audience consider 99% of politicians as heroes cmon man down if this horse before you throw a fit

perhaps, but considering Tracy's circumstances, her goals & her path are aspirational if not inspirational. every character has major trauma, Tracy and Tammy are the only ones that don't let it curdle their souls

The vote counting kid is a good example of people trusting rules and procedures to an almost pathological level, this seems to be a plague on the UK right now.

The other thing is--and you have to step back a bit from Tracy herself--is that she's obviously right: the idea that anyone would vote for Paul before her to run anything is ludicrous.

That's the funny thing about the film -- this is about high school students! I know there are student councils in rare schools that have a voice, but the stakes are so incredibly low, even when you listen to Tracy's campaign platform. Outside of organizing some student events, the most they do is make some recommendations to the administration. It's so incredibly low-stakes, and in a lot of schools it plays out as a popularity contest with a few students genuinely wanting to affect change (or pad their pre-college resumes).

This is one of the movies I've seen a number of times over the years where my life experience really colors my perception. The juxtaposition of each character's inner monologue and their actions on screen, along with how they appear to the audience, is where it really shines.

Paul's inner monologue is the best, obviously

I think the challenge the film and the novel took on is how to make Tracy not the obvious hero of the story - there are no good people or winners in Tom Perrotta novels afaict - despite all of the traditionally unassailable attributes of the responsible, hard working underdog accruing in her favor. IMHO they pulled it off by making her as narcissistic and unabashedly ambitious as Jim is needy and feckless.

I think Senator Flick would be Nebraska's own Susan Collins fwiw

always lol at "then we'd go to my house to fuck and have a hot tub"

I graduated from high school the year Election was released and, at the time, Tracy reminded me of one of my classmates. There was an incident where, related to an extracurricular group I was involved in, the teacher running it got angry at her lack of attention and snapped, "If you were actually interested in this instead of having to be in every group and making it about you, you'd pay attention!" and she was in tears. I only heard about it when she showed up to the next class and couldn't regain her composure.

I mean, in retrospect, he wasn't wrong, but it wasn't something to snap at a kid about. At the time, I definitely didn't see that.

NB, I ran for student prez on Tammy's platform (dissolve the SGA) as a junior in college, one year before this movie came out, and even got a referendum on the ballot to that effect (we only got something like 47% of the vote for the referendum so it didn't even get put before the senate). All the kids I ran against were variations on Paul and Tracy.

Election is like bueller in that ppl always inform you that you shouldn't sympathise with Matthew Broderick like they're imparting the secret of the fucking universe when it's like no duh

Tracy is obv way more compelling but being asked to find her inspirational reminds me a bit of the "hire more women guards" gag

well yeah exactly. i said that she's HRC

She's not compelling at all rly

Election is like bueller in that ppl always inform you that you shouldn't sympathise with Matthew Broderick like they're imparting the secret of the fucking universe when it's like no duh

As a person who was a kid when Ferris Beuller came out and saw it in theaters, let me assure you that millions of people around the world need to have it explained to them why you shouldn't sympathize with Matthew Broderick, and I was one of them

Ferris is an entitled little shit, yes, but if you take Roger Ebert's reading of the film--that his motivation for the day off was help his friend gain some self-respect--he becomes a lot more bearable.

I thought netflix’s American Vandal had a character that was pretty reminiscent of Dave, although younger

That is a misreading xp

How so?

Because that is not his motivation

As a person who was a kid when Ferris Beuller came out and saw it in theaters, let me assure you that millions of people around the world need to have it explained to them why you shouldn't sympathize with Matthew Broderick, and I was one of them

― Guayaquil (eephus!),

and still do.

Because that is not his motivation

Not only is it not his motivation, it's exactly the story Bueller tells himself about himself in order to avoid having to understand and accept who he really is

Tammy is the hero, duh.

Ferris Bueller is about wish fulfillment for teens, thinking you can break the rules and do magic and be celebrated for it

Election is not quite the opposite, but it does make you wonder why people think their actions are ever truly in the service of their goals

Tammy isn't a hero she's the easy popularity of the opt out slacker

she gets the girl, though

90s chicks loved opt-out slackers

New Sequel Novel: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tracy-Flick-Cant-Win/Tom-Perrotta/9781501144066?

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy to ascend to the top job.

Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life—a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be.

Among her many other responsibilities, Tracy is enlisted to serve on the Selection Committee for the brand-new Green Meadow High School Hall of Fame. Her male colleagues’ determination to honor Vito Falcone—a star quarterback of dubious character who had a brief, undistinguished career in the NFL—triggers bad memories for Tracy, and leads her to troubling reflections about the trajectory of her own life and the forces that have left her feeling thwarted and disappointed, unable to fulfill her true potential.

As she broods on the past, Tracy becomes aware of storm clouds brewing in the present. Is she really a shoo-in for the Principal job? Is the Superintendent plotting against her? Why is the School Board President’s wife trying so hard to be her friend? And why can’t she ever get what she deserves?

Would have thought she'd end up at Fox.

...or married to Ted Cruz

https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/jacMx0hZvy7S7E0Ul9HikzknMnM=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/02/26/Heidi-5.jpg

https://theplaylist.net/tracy-flick-cant-win-an-election-sequel-is-in-the-works-at-paramount-with-reese-witherspoon-director-alexander-payne-returning-20221208/

I felt this movie was pretty perfect and felt quietly happy that the book sequel didn't make much of a splash but, well, I guess there's gonna be another movie. With Payne and Witherspoon involved I guess it's likely to be as good as it can be, but -- I sort of don't want it.

(checks Alexander Payne filmography, confirms suspicion that Alexander Payne peaked with Election 23 years ago) Yeah, I don't think I need this.

I've liked a couple of Payne films since then, but an Election sequel seems quite unnecessary (and will interfere with the fun of trying to imagine where Tracy ended up).

Y’all seen this? It’s pretty obscure and was allegedly discovered at a flea market in 2011. Even the Criterion didn’t have it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhezOPupmj4