THE FILM:
Election is a biting comedy about the politics of high school, the relationship between educators and their students, and the doldrums that sometimes seem like they consume the middle class and middle aged. Starring Matthew Broderick as high school history Jim McAllister, a young Reese Witherspoon as ambitious student Tracy Flick, and Chris Klein as her political rival and popular student Paul Metzler, Election has an extremely talented cast that also features turns from Phil Reeves and Molly Hagan in supporting roles.

At the film's outset we learn that McAllister is a career educator, who truly enjoys his job teaching history and civics at a local high school in Nebraska. The viewer quickly learns that McAllister dislikes a certain student (Flick) whom he finds particularly abrasive and self-interested, and who also had an affair with a close friend and colleague, resulting in his friend's termination. When Flick begins her campaign for student government president unopposed, McAllister takes it upon himself to recruit popular student Paul to run against Tracy, sending the overachiever into a fit of panic as her well-laid plans now seem in jeopardy.

Intermixed with these seemingly petty concerns is the other, seedier element of McAllister's life, which focuses on his feelings for his friend's ex-wife, who still lives near McAllister and his own wife. Struggling to keep this tawdry bit a secret, McAllister also grapples with the fact that Flick is poised to take office after an apparently successful presidential campaign. As he decides to take matters into his own hands to prevent this, McAllister's personal and professional life come crumbling down around him simultaneously.

While this summary might sound a bit depressing on paper, the actual presentation is extremely witty, a bit satirical and often sarcastic. The film can be a bit mean at times, but is largely light-hearted, keeping it's story moving along at an excellent pace and never allowing less interesting subplots to consume unnecessary amounts of screen time.

HD SOUND + VISION:
Election's 2.35:1 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is a bit of a mixed bag. While a persistent grain throughout makes the film seem older than it is, color is sharp and skin tones are wonderfully natural, an important factor when a film features as many close ups as this one does. Detail is the most inconsistent element of this presentation, with some shots appearing downright fuzzy while others appear sharply in focus. This wouldn't be distracting for the casual viewer, but this startling incongruity was painfully obvious from the film's first scene for this reviewer.

Unfortunately Election falls victim to the most common pitfall of comedies on high-definition; boring audio. What makes this film so sonically boring? Well, the seeming complete lack of a soundtrack coupled with the fact that the entire film takes place in the front sound field leaves the viewer feeling less than immersed in the on-screen action. In fact, Election's primary option is a Dolby TrueHD 5.0 Surround track that completely forgoes a dedicated LFE track, meaning the low end in this film never dips below what your front speakers can handle. Still, dialog is crisp enough that the film is entirely watchable, and although we can wish there was more "going on" sonically in this film, it's just another case of the material not calling for a first rate audio presentation. An alternate Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround track is offered in English and Spanish, and subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

PACKAGING/ LAYOUT:
A single 50GB disc holding the feature and optional commentary is housed in a standard Blu-ray elite snap case. Artwork is refreshed for this release, and features Broderick and Witherspoon. Menuing is clean and easy to navigate, with the exception of the colors used for text; the use of black and red to differentiate which option has been selected makes these choices somewhat difficult to read.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Unfortunately, Election hits Blu-ray with a sole piece of supplemental material; a feature length audio track from director Alexander Payne. It's a informative but dry track, as Payne recounts filming with Broderick and Witherspoon, as well as writing the film with colleague Jim Taylor.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Election is a fun film that features outstanding performances from all involved. It avoids taking itself too seriously, and in doing so creates a seriously entertaining film that never drags the audience down. The Blu-ray release is an uneven affair with passable but unspectacular AV package and a disappointing lack of supplemental materials, but the release remains an upgrade over the DVD version in every way and the film is good enough to merit a rental even without top grades in each area.

FILM GRADE: A-
HD SOUND GRADE: C
HD VISION GRADE: B-
PACKAGING/ LAYOUT GRADE: A
SPECIAL FEATURES GRADE: C
OVERALL BLU-RAY DISC GRADE: B-