135. Election (1999)

Load Bearing Beams: A Movie Podcast

Folks, we have an election on our hands. The most important of our lifetimes, many are saying. We are talking, of course, about the battle for the president of Carver High School’s Student Government Association. In one corner, it’s beloved football star Paul Metzler (Chris Klein). In another corner, it’s that do-gooding Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon). And in a third corner, it’s Tammy Metzler (Jessica Campbell), who just wants to burn it all down.

Stuck in the middle of all of this is one of cinema’s great pathetic losers, Mr. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick), an ordinary guy who just wants to drink Pepsi and watch his porno tapes, but that pesky election keeps calling to him.

This movie rocks and rolls and owns and bones.

Bonus video: We talk about our favorite fictional presidents from movies. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

Next week: The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Time stamps:

00:01:31 — American presidential election predictions, AND the story of the time Laci was most angry at Matt

00:16:52 — Our personal histories with Election

00:20:22 — History segment: The reevaluation of Tracy Flick over time; career overviews of Tom Perrotta and Alexander Payne

00:46:10 — In-depth movie discussion

02:00:45 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Sources:

“Pick Flick: An Oral History Of 'Election,' 15 Years Later” by Matthew Jacobs | HuffPost, 2014 - https://bit.ly/4f4yHz3

“What America Gets Wrong About Tracy Flick” by A.O. Scott | The New York Times, 2019 - https://nyti.ms/4hvnAk0

“How #MeToo Brought Back Tracy Flick” by David Plotz | Slate, 2022 - https://bit.ly/4f9h2Gu

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode:

“Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM

“Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg

“The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ

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