During a high school election for student body president, romantic relationships and competition cause problems.
This was an assignment for a film theory and criticism class. The professor better have something really interesting to point out because the film was pretty standard and run of the mill. The hour and 40 minute duration seemed to take a long time. The pacing was dynamic. It sped up for action and slowed down for narration that gave back-story. I think the characters were played well and all of the dialogue seemed to be written professionally. I was unimpressed with sets and costumes. Having a high school with students and teachers does not require much extra effort in that department. What stood out most in camera-work and editing were freeze frames at the beginning of narrations. There was also a crane shot of the main teacher outdoors and a slow dissolve while he was in a restaurant. Another good edit was everyone's faces in the office at the climax. Audio sounded good to me. Dialogue was audible and there was appropriate music that may have been mixed just a bit too loud. The style reminded me a little bit of Wes Anderson, but faster and more boldly expressive. This has 7.3/10 on IMDB, 4.5/5 on AllMovie, 92% Tomatometer and 79% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and Metascore of 83% on Metacritic for an average of 83.4%. I think they're ranking it a little bit high, but popular opinion favors "marketable" films. I guess a loss of 10 million dollars between budget and box office makes up for the difference. I rate this adequate because it held my attention, the characters were decent and there was some good editing.
