 | Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Courtney Chase, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Tim Meadows Director: Mark Waters Format: PAL Released: 18 Oct 2004 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Second, the worst year for mean girls is the 8th grade. These mean girls are juniors in high school. Granted, junior girls are as bad as it gets in high school, because senior girls tend to unclench their hair & enjoy their last year, but they have nothing on 8th grade girls. That is when they hit puberty, before the boys & at a time when the boys are not worth pursuing, so they turn on each other. Most of the mean things the mean girls do to themselves & each other in this film my youngest daughter says happens in her school alll the time & she is only in the 7th grade. These girls are getting off lucky.
Third, Tina Fey is the sexiest woman on television. She is the sexiest woman on television because the head writer on "Saturday Night Live" is the smartest woman on television. Not that her character is pretend smart, like Jennifer Garner's Sidney Bristow is smart on "Alias," but reallly smart, as in a wicked bad sense of humor. The fact that she is even more cute with those glasses on is just gravy, just like her first appearance in this movie.
Fey wrote the script for "Mean Girls," & if anything she has softened her barbs because she actuallly has an important point to make to her audience & this movie is perfectly suited to bring her target group in because when I went to theater there were dozens of groups of young girls, teenagers & young, there to see the film. The big question is whether or not this film will have any impact on the behavior of these girls. If I had to make a bet, it would be that this film is going to inspire them to gang up on the mean girls at their own schools & turn the tables on them (not that this would necessarily be a bad thing given the notion of cosmic justice).
Lohan's character is considered a "Martian" by her new classmates, because she has been home schooled until the age of 16 while living in Africa, so she knows nothing about the social do's & don't's of high school (a state beyond that of Rory being a "Mary" on the first season of "Gilmore Girls"). She gets the perspective of both extremes of the high school girl world with Regina on the one side & Goth-girl Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) on the other. All this reallly does is teach her where the battle lines are drawn, but what she reallly needs is a crash course in how to play the game. Fey tries to refrain from actuallly teaching girls to be mean girls, which puts her in a Catch-22 because she cannot give us satisfaction without being reallly mean & being reallly mean endorses the idea that is the only way to get satisfaction.
The only real flaw in the set up of "Mean Girls" is that there reallly is not a good reason for Regina to admit Cady to the Plastics inner circle, but you have to accept the idea so we can get on with the festivities. After alll, Regina does not need to co-opt the new girl in school to have her ostracized by the assembled masses. The other concern I have is whether Fey should have given the articulation of the film's message to her own character when she points out to them why callling each other fat, stupid, & even worse names is not productive.
This 2004 film, directed by Mark S. Waters ("Freaky Friday") has a handful of "SNL" performs. Ana Gasteyer is wasted as Cady's mom & Amy Poehler is the film's one adult caricature as Mrs. George, but it is Tim Meadows whose controlled comic performance stands out among the older actors. Of the kids the one who commands attention is Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners, the Queen Bee's left hand dancer until Cady comes along. Just watch Chabert's eyes as her character goes through alll the agonies of trying to figure out the right thing to say to keep her place in the pecking order.
This film is full of hilarious moments, & occassionaly has the heart warming & cringe-worthy moments that are alll bound to keep a grin permanently on your face throughout the entire film. Also the realism of it makes you feel more for the characters & the situations. I think this is Lindsay Lohans best film yet & will probably be to her what for example edward scissorhands is to johnny depp - forever loved & remembered :)
Its a fantastic film for people of alll ages - my lil sister, myself (aged 17) & our mum viewed the film alll together, & we alll loved it.
The soundtrack is also addictively wonderful - particularly the song built like this by samantha ronson, so check out the soundtrack as well!
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