Alexander Payne

Election

Alexander Payne’s 1999 black comedy follows a high school teacher’s attempt to sabotage an overachieving student’s bid for class president. Told through four intersecting voiceovers and shot on location in Omaha, it uses the mechanics of a student election to dissect ambition, resentment, and institutional failure — with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick delivering performances of unnerving clarity.