Mean Girls (2004)

Director:

Mark Waters

Writers (WGA):

Rosalind Wiseman (book)
Tina Fey (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Welcome to Girl World.

Plot:

Cady Heron (Lohan) is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels (Bennett), the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George (McAdams).

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholism | Social Climber | Hit By Bus | Suspected Lesbian | Irreverent

Awards:

7 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Lindsay Lohan	...	Cady Heron
Rachel McAdams	...	Regina George
Tina Fey	...	Ms. Norbury
Tim Meadows	...	Mr. Duvall
Amy Poehler	...	Mrs. George
Ana Gasteyer	...	Mrs. Heron
Lacey Chabert	...	Gretchen Wieners
Amanda Seyfried	...	Karen Smith
Lizzy Caplan	...	Janis Ian
Daniel Franzese	...	Damian
Neil Flynn	...	Mr. Heron
Jonathan Bennett	...	Aaron Samuels
Rajiv Surendra	...	Kevin Gnapoor
Elana Shilling	...	Spelling Girl
Graham Kartna	...	Homeschooled Boy

Also Known As:

Untitled 'Queen Bees and Wannabes' Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and some teen partying.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Vietnamese | Swahili

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Iceland:L | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | South Korea:15 | USA:PG-13 | Argentina:Atp | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-7 | Germany:6 | India:A | Ireland:12PG | Netherlands:12 | Norway:7 | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | Germany:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Amanda Seyfried, who plays Karen in the film, was initially supposed to play Cady, but producer 'Lorne Michaels' thought she may be better as the "dumb girl".

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of Kevin's rap, when the man says, "Thank you Kevin, that's enough," the guy on stage in the green shirt is on Kevin's right. In the next shot, when Kevin says, "Happy holidays, everybody," the guy in the green shirt is on Kevin's left.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Chip Heron: This is your lunch, OK? I put a dollar in there so you can buy some milk; you can ask one of the big kids where to do that.
Betsy Heron: Do you remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you just in case. Put it in your pocket, I don't want you to lose it. OK? You ready?
Cady: I think so.

Movie Connections:

References "Saturday Night Live" (1975)

Soundtrack:

Here I Come

The unthinkable: A good film in this day and age about high school.

Though my own high school days are well behind me now, this film received enough acclaim that I was convinced to give it a try. Mean Girls did in fact prove to be a rewarding experience. The film made a ton of money and launched some of its young stars into orbit.

Our story deals with a previously home-schooled girl (Lohan) now having to brave a suburban high school for the first time. She is completely clueless as far as what it takes to be cool in this new world, but she is pretty enough to catch the attention of the most popular girls in the school. The "Plastics" as they are called take the young lady into their world and over time she becomes one of them. The more popular the young lady becomes, the more miserable her life becomes, however.

The film is very funny and it hits pretty hard with its depictions of the various cliques at modern high schools. Some would argue that the characters in this film are just stereotypes, but so are most real life high schoolers. Nearly everyone fit into one category or another even back in my school days, but things seem even more fragmented now.

Tina Fey has written an intelligent script, and thankfully the film was cast well enough to carry it. Lindsay Lohan is charming, but nothing too exceptional. Rachel McAdams pretty much steals this film, and she is likely the cast member who will have the best career of this bunch. I think it's safe to say her scream toward the end of act 2 is the best I've ever heard in any film.Lacey Chabert is also worth mentioning, and she seems worthy of some better roles in the future. Overall, there did not seem to be any casting problems.

Mark Watters keeps things moving along at a brisk pace, and it seems strange to see Lorne Michaels' name in the credits of any film this funny. From what I've heard, the film had to be trimmed of more than a few parts that would have given it in an R-rating. BOO!!!!!! Hard to argue with the box office totals, though! After watching this film, I was reminded of a similar group of popular girls at my high school. They called themselves the Senior Bitch Patrol, and behaved much the same way as the "Plastics." Only back then (88-91) it was mostly about the hair. The bigger the hair, the more popular the girl. All of these girls have gone on to live boring and pointless lives since those days. Go figure....

9 of 10 stars for Mean Girls. Too bad I never had any math teachers as pretty as Tina Fey!