‘Frontrunners’: Elite school? Documentary doesn’t show why
Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Stuyvesant High School in New York City takes only the top 3 percent of applicants, which makes it one of the elite schools in the country. We are told, in the movie “Frontrunners,” that Stuyvesant regularly produces important politicians and business leaders, as well as the occasional Nobel Prize-winner.
Maybe that’s why filmmaker Caroline Suh figured a documentary about the annual campaign for Stuyvesant student body president would make for a good true-life version of Alexander Payne’s modern classic, “Election.”
Actually, the kids at Stuyvesant don’t seem a whole lot different from the students at your average public high school. Same roster of nerds, class clowns and drama queens.
Well, maybe fewer jocks. But the anxieties are pretty similar to those seen in the summer’s “American Teen.”
The presidential candidate runs in tandem with a vice-president hopeful, and three teams distinguish themselves in the film’s chronicle. Mike, an early favorite in the prognosticating, is often described as a little too cocky for his own good, a characterization that might turn out to be a problem in the election.
George is the movie’s equivalent of the Reese Witherspoon character from “Election,” a weirdly wonky organizer who has pinned a lot of hopes on this contest. The son of Greek immigrants, he’s got the overachieving drive of a first-generation American.
He’s also got a habit of talking in inscrutable, airy riddles, and the funniest moments of the film show him sitting next to his vice-presidential candidate as she rolls her eyes at his bloviating.
The other campaigner is Hannah, an actress who has appeared in a Todd Solondz movie and must weigh her commitment to the theater program against her desire to be president. She appears to be the most normal of the bunch.
These kids don’t resemble future political operatives; at best, George could be a behind-the-scenes organizer. Nobody suggests the sleazy level of Stuyvesant grad Dick Morris, the political adviser/news analyst who is quoted at the beginning of the movie.
The suspense device of the election works reasonably well, as it does in so many “contest” documentaries, such as “Wordplay.” But “Frontrunners” is an underwhelming experience, maybe because we don’t get enough of the larger context of Stuyvesant to know why this setting should be worth our interest. And since the issues themselves are vapid (will there be a bigger budget for the prom?), the movie floats off into nothing.
