Election
Movie Review by: James R. Howarth, Edison Community College in Punta Gorda, Florida

In review of this movie I do not want to be to critical, after all it did sell itself as a satire comedy, so what do you expect except that they would take very serious offences and make them sadly humorous. I happen to be a fan of Reese Witherspoon so I was happy to watch this film because she is a great actress even in a dark role like this one. A brief summary of the film goes like this: Witherspoon plays a very eager go getter who is the product of a single parent home in which her mother pushes her to succeed. She is not able to afford the luxuries of life so her satisfaction comes from being active in school activities. She ultimately runs for Class President and is well on her way to victory until the teacher in charge of the election lets his personal feelings block his good judgment and cause her ( I will not tell if she wins or loses)... The teacher is played by Matthew Broderick and he is well on his way to making education history with twelve years of teaching and three teacher of the year awards. Until his friend and colleague gets mixed up with Witherspoon( A definite abuse and letdown of professional ethics.) and as a result looses his job and family. Broderick does not want Witherspoon to win the election so he gets a Star Football player who is unable to play due to an injury to run against Witherspoon. It does not hurt that his family is wealthy and this adds to his popularity in school, so even though he has never been in charge of a committee in school he is now running for Class President. There is also a third person who enters the race for all the wrong reasons and throws more trouble than aid into this already chaotic race. The final verdict for this movie is that it is cute. I will not give away any more details other than watch it. If you want to be a teacher, this film definitely will show you the good the bad and the ugly. You have to show up every day and do the right thing in education or you will end up unemployed. There is no room for personal battles in education. Morals and ethics are essential to being a good educator everyday. I hope to fill the gap someday soon.