Aside from the comedy and political satire, it's a coming-of-age movie of a teenager and her teacher who goes in the opposite direction. Self-control, which is part of growing up is the main theme. Flick, who seems the essence of self-control, is running for class president and goes bananas in the scene where she pulls down her rival's posters. Luck saves her from paying for that and it looks like she learns from it. And teacher McAllister regresses and regresses, first into a teenager when he plans an extramarital affair with his wife's best friend. Then, angry at and hating Flick, he gives into his emotions again and discards some of Flick's votes, soon losing both his marriage and his job. The last scene is of McAllister years later being a tourist in D.C. Suddenly he sees Flick coming out of a government building with some suited D.C. types, and going into a limo. Furious, he flings a full drink cup into its back window. The limo stops and like a bad little boy, he runs away. The regression is complete.