‘Election’ at 25

Revisiting Alexander Payne's masterpiece and one of the best films of 1999.

Election is an uncomfortable movie. Alexander Payne’s adaptation of Tom Perrotta's satirical novel is a take-no-prisoners comedy, a scathing collision of personality, sex, ambition and ethics in a Nebraska high school. Few of its characters come away smelling like roses; indeed, most of them had the scent of fertilizer on them from the start. It’s a gre…