Election
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: April 23, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The satire of the season, a hilarious, razor-sharp indictment of the American Dream. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeJay Carr
An invigoratingly mordant comedy that proves that Alexander Payne's rambunctious debut, "Citizen Ruth," was no fluke. Read full review
100
SlateDavid Edelstein
American satire rarely comes more winning than Election, an exuberantly caustic comedy that shows the symbiotic relationship between political go-get-'em-ism and moral backsliding. Read full review
100
Film.comErnest Hardy
One of the funniest, shrewdest, smartest movies in recent memory.
100
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A wonderful, piercing and hilarious examination of high school politics and how bitter and ruinous it can become. Read full review
100
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
With Election, Payne announces himself as one of the keenest purveyors of the scattered pieces that once was an American morality. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Alexander Payne's scathing, subtle, and complexly funny tragicomedy builds a perfect, off-kilter universe--it's a first cousin to "Rushmore." Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
This is a nearly flawless little film, a cheerful nightmare that knows just where it wants to go and uses precisely calibrated comic effects to get there. Read full review
90
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Election is a bracingly intelligent adult comedy that shrewdly captures adolescence.
90
Film.comHenry Cabot Beck
Resonates with the fluorescent horror of real-life high school, something few movies about this generation have managed to successfully capture.
90
Film.comJohn Hartl
Wickedly funny, scathingly original new comedy.
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Brandishes the sort of intelligent wit and bracing nastiness that will make it more appealing to discerning adults than to teens who just want to have fun. Read full review
88
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
When it comes to eloquently telling it like it is, Election puts the nation's political pundits to shame.
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Election has the sharpest satire of any teen movie made in years. Like the best lampoons, it attacks by exaggerating reality ever-so-slightly and targeting a broad range of subjects. Read full review
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
A terrific work of political and social satire set in a Nebraska high school that has the intelligence of (the less coherent) "Rushmore," while painting a much darker picture of politics and human relationships.
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The actors are solid at every position, but Broderick, who seems to get better with each performance, is especially good at playing the impulsively self-destructive yet sympathetic loser. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Alexander Payne is a director whose satire is omnidirectional. He doesn't choose an easy target and march on it. He stands in the middle of his story and attacks on all directions. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Election is a deft dark comedy with a resemblance to "Rushmore." It's smart no matter what. Read full review
80
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
Wickedly funny, an ode to youthful overachievers that's as blackhearted as "Rushmore" was gently sentimental. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Witherspoon's broad, obsessive comic performance is bound to get the most attention, but Broderick does the best work of his career, finding an affecting spot between the all-purpose defiance of Ferris Bueller and the put-upon foil of his recent work. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A fine, near-seamless film that finally suffers slightly from an inability to wrap up its tale. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The screenplay by Payne and Jim Taylor, based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, sees the lives of these suburban students and teachers through a prism of absurdity that refracts more truth than any straightforward telling. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
At best, the humour in Election is perceptive, nasty, pointed, and lets no one off its barbed hook, not even the audience. In other words, it's a lovely piece of satire, made all the more relevant by the setting. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Happily, this irreverent, sharply observant comedy sweeps us into the maelstrom too. Amid the glut of teen movies rolling out of the studios every week, Election deserves special attention. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Surprise! An intelligent, well-written high school story. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Director Payne, who adapted Tom Perrotta's novel with Jim Taylor, has an authentically dire view of human behavior, which he expresses in crisp, edgy and sometimes startlingly raunchy style. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The treatment of this touchy material is impressive, neither gratuitous nor mincing, but this satirical comedy doesn't really go anywhere. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Election is finally, necessarily, as much about sex as it is about politics -- wanting it, getting it, losing it. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Often distastefully juvenile. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMarc Caro
Entertaining but frustratingly uneven.
50
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The film never finds a confident tone: it's pitched as a satire, but seems to have no real targets. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Broderick and Witherspoon give perfectly matched performances at the head of a first-rate cast. Read full review
40
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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