Election (1999) on Netflix
At Carver High in Omaha, teacher Jim McAllister resents Tracy Flick, the overachieving junior running unopposed for student body president. He recruits football player Paul Metzler to run.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.2/10112,279 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jim McAllister teaches U.S. history and civics at Carver High School in Omaha, Nebraska, where Tracy Flick is an academically driven junior urged on by her single mother, Judith. Jim dislikes Tracy, and he resents that his friend Dave Novotny, a geometry teacher, was fired and divorced after a relationship with her while Tracy faced no consequences. Jim and his wife, Diane, are struggling to conceive. When Tracy enters the race for student government president unopposed, Jim persuades Paul Metzler, a popular football player sidelined by a broken leg from a skiing accident, to run against her, giving Paul a sense of purpose and infuriating Tracy. Tammy Metzler, Paul's adopted younger sister, enters as a spoiler candidate after her friend Lisa Flanagan rejects her and begins dating Paul.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Election (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tom Perrotta's novel, which Election adapts, was inspired by two events: Ross Perot's 1992 third-party presidential run, echoed by Tammy Metzler in the film, and a 1992 case at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where a pregnant student won the homecoming queen vote and staff burned the ballots after naming a different winner.
SPOILER
Election's original ending tested poorly and went unseen until a rough workprint turned up in a box of VHS tapes at a 2011 yard sale; it follows the book, with Jim McAllister selling used cars in Omaha and signing Tracy Flick's yearbook instead of moving to New York.
