Tracy (Reese Witherspoon) is a model high school student who applies herself so obsessively that her future isn’t just bright, it’s blinding. Determined to become student-government president, she runs unopposed until the faculty adviser for the election (Matthew Broderick) decides she has to have some competition—for her own good and the good of the school. In the grip of a midlife crisis, he realizes that his determination to teach her a lesson in humility may have something to do with his sexual discontent. The treatment of this touchy material is impressive, neither gratuitous nor mincing, but this 1999 satirical comedy doesn’t really go anywhere. Director Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth) wrote the screenplay with Jim Taylor, based on a novel by Tom Perrotta.