Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

Three years after its founding, MTV Films released the dark comedy Election in 1999 starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Based on the previous year's critically acclaimed novel of the same name by author Tom Perotta, the film itself, although never becoming a major box office hit, would go on to attain much acclaim eventually earning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for Witherspoon and The Independent Spirit Award for Best Film.

Cleverly scripted and convincingly acted by all involved, Election pokes at both politics and teen angst in high school as it follows the annoying overachiever Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) and History, Civics, and Current Events teacher Jim Mcallister (Broderick) as the student body elections unfold at George Washington Carver High in the drab suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska.

Tracy, a happy do-gooder for all outward appearances, has a cutthroat dark side and is willing to do anything and step over and on anyone to succeed in order to lift herself and her single mother up out of the doldrums of lower-middle class life. Mcallister's outward front of contentment with his life and his job masks resentment for his circumstances that eventually boils up to the surface as he tries to sabotage Tracy's chances at winning the election -- partly because she annoys him so much and partly because of her sexual involvement with his former colleague and friend Dave (Mark Harelik) that led to the latter losing his job.

Broderick's life slowly falls to pieces, crumbling into decay the more he tries to derail Tracy's dreams. It is probably best summed up by Tracy's line, "You can't interfere with destiny; that's why it's destiny. And if you try to interfere, the same thing's going to happen anyway. And you'll just suffer."

Unlike most teen movies, this one shows a real slice of life. You won't find any prom wars here. Who would have thought that something so real could come out of MTV?

For a different take see Joe Lozito's theatrical review of Election.

The Picture

Election's 2.35:1 AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 transfer from Paramount is hardly top notch in comparison to many other catalogue releases available on Blu-ray. The transfer shows some obvious wear in the form of dirt and scratches, there's some film jitter, and detail is a bit soft. Still, it is an improvement over previous standard definition versions and worth the upgrade; it's just not an absolute reference quality release. To its credit, there are strong flesh tones and color reproduction is also stable with good contrast levels. No distracting compression or processing artifacts are noticeable either and that is always a good thing.

The Sound

Although the disc's menu lists only 5.0 audio options, Election is in fact provided with English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 options, not that that extra ".1" makes much of a difference in this case. Election's dialogue-driven TrueHD soundmix lingers in the midrange with very little low frequency extension to speak of.  On the plus side, the dialogue is clear, natural and well balanced. The sound mix has an abundance of ambiance in the surrounds, so the mix never sounds too dry or boring. Listen to the scene where Jim is looking for Linda in her backyard -- the sounds of the birds chirping and bees buzzing fill the soundstage nicely.

The Extras

Move along, there's nothing here to see, and little to hear. The sole extra provided for Election on Blu is the audio commentary with Director Alexander Payne, which offers up some relatively interesting tidbits on the filming and adaptation of the book, such as the added bee sting scene, which does not appear in the book, and the wardrobe choices of the teachers in the film based on Payne observing actual schools.

Final Thoughts

Election is a fine dark comedy and although this Blu-ray release from Paramount feels a bit lacking, it is still worth the upgrade.

Where to Buy

• Election on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell, Phil Reeves
• Directors: Alexander Payne
• Writers: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Tom Perrotta
• Producers: Albert Berger, David Gale, Jacobus Rose, Jim Burke
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Audio/Languages: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French & Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R
• Studio: Paramount
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 20, 2009
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• List Price: $29.99
• Extras:
• Commentary with Director Alexander Payne