Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film, directed by Mark Waters and starring Lindsay Lohan. Written by (and co-starring) Tina Fey, the film features a supporting cast of Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, and Lizzy Caplan. The film also features several Saturday Night Live cast members, including Fey, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. Mean Girls has been praised as being Lohan's break-out film role.[1]
Director Waters described the movie as "Clueless meets Heathers,"[2] the latter of which was written by his brother, Daniel Waters. Mean Girls is based on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate, and the effect they can have on girls.
Plot
The home-schooled daughter of zoologist parents (Ana Gasteyer and Neil Flynn) living in Africa, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is unprepared for her first day of public high school at fictional North Shore High School in Illinois. With the help of social misfits Janis Ian (played by Lizzy Caplan, and sharing the name of a singer whose song "At Seventeen" also appears in the movie[3][4]) and Damien (Daniel Franzese), Cady learns about the various cliques, including the Plastics, an exclusive group of girls led by queen bee Regina George (Rachel McAdams), who was once Janis' best friend. Janis hatches a plan for Cady to infiltrate the Plastics and get revenge for what Regina did to Janis in 8th grade. Her plan involves cutting off Regina's "resources", which include Regina's two best friends: pathologically insecure Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and dimwitted blonde Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried).
Having ingratiated herself with the Plastics per Janis's plan, Cady learns about the "Burn Book," a top secret notebook of Regina's, filled with rumors, secrets and gossip about all the other girls in school. Shortly, Cady falls for Regina's ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), whom Regina successfully steals back from Cady in a fit of jealousy. Distressed, Cady then ups the ante in retaliation against Regina, convincing the latter to eat high-calorie weight-gain bars while claiming they help one lose weight.
In her efforts to get revenge on Regina, Cady gradually loses her individual personality and remakes herself in the image of Regina. Her act soon becomes reality, and she becomes as mean as Regina. Aaron abandons Regina and begins dating Cady. Regina, now overweight due to Cady's sabotage, is forced to leave the Plastics and Cady becomes the new Queen Bee. In celebration of her newfound status, Cady throws a party with the Plastics and does not invite Janis or Damien, which causes Janis to renounce Cady as a friend. During the party she also alienates Aaron with her unsavory new personality traits.
Regina eventually discovers the truth about the bars she has been eating and strikes back by spreading the contents of her Burn Book around the school, which causes a riot as the class learn all of the nasty things others have been saying about them. Regina also inserts fake slander of herself in the book, in order to focus scrutiny on Cady and the Plastics (now the only girls not mentioned in the Book). The riot is eventually quelled by the principal; math teacher Ms. Norbury makes the girls realize that all of them are guilty of hurting their peers. She has each girl confess and apologize to the rest of the girls. Janis confesses her plan to destroy Regina with Cady's help, and openly mocks her with the support of the entire school. Regina storms out, pursued by Cady, and gets hit by a schoolbus, which the school blames on Cady.
Now friendless, shunned by Aaron and untrusted by everyone at school, Cady decides to make amends by taking full blame for the Burn Book. Though severely punished by her confession, her guilt dissolves and she returns to her old personality.
At the Spring Fling dance, Cady makes up with Janis and Damien, reconciles with Aaron, and reaches a truce with the Plastics. She is elected the Spring Fling Queen, and gives a speech to her class that her victory is meaningless; they all deserve it and are all wonderful in their own way. She smashes her tiara and distributes the pieces to her fellow classmates, and becomes reasonably well-liked once again.
The film ends with the Plastics disbanding by the start of the new school years: Regina joins the lacrosse team as a way to channel her aggression, Karen becomes the school weather girl, Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians" clique, and Cady continues to date Aaron. Having forged true friendships with both Regina and Janis, Cady reflects that the "Girl World" she lives in is now a better place.
Reception
The movie was generally well reviewed by critics, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 84% "Fresh" based on 167 reviews.[5] and a rating of 66 ("Generally favorable reviews") on Metacritic based on 39 reviews.[6]
In an interview about the film, Fey noted, "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young people watch it like a reality television show. It is much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing."[7]
Production
Though set in Illinois, the movie was partly shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. North Shore High School was actually shot at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute. Notable landmarks include the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall and Sherway Gardens. Regina George's house is a home in the Bridle Path neighborhood.
Box office
The movie was declared an instant success after its opening weekend made the film $24,432,195 from 2839 theaters becoming the #1 film in America and averaging $8,606 per venue.[8] Due to strong word of mouth, Mean Girls had a long life at the box office and finished its run with $86,058,055 in the United States making its worldwide total gross $129,042,871.[9]
In the US, the film was the 24th highest grossing movie of 2004.[9] The film was later nominated for the WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[10]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was released on September 21, 2004, the same day as the DVD release.
- "Dancing with Myself" - The Donnas (Generation X cover)
- "God Is a DJ" - Pink
- "Milkshake" - Kelis
- "Sorry (Don't Ask Me)" - All Too Much
- "Built This Way" - Samantha Ronson
- "Rip Her to Shreds" - Boomkat (Blondie cover)
- "Overdrive" - Katy Rose
- "One Way or Another" - Blondie
- "Operate" - Peaches
- "Misty Canyon" - Anjali Bhatia
- "Mean Gurl" - Gina Rene and Gabriel Rene
- "Hated" - Nikki Cleary
- "Psyché Rock" - Pierre Henry
- "The Mathlete Rap" - Rajiv Surendra
Though not included on the soundtrack, other songs heard in the film include "Pass That Dutch" by Missy Elliott. "Fire" by Joe Budden, featuring Busta Rhymes.
Home media
The DVD was released in North America on September 21, 2004, five months after it opened in theaters. It was released in a widescreen special collector's edition and a fullscreen collector's edition, both including several deleted scenes, a blooper reel, three interstitials, the theatrical trailer, previews, and three featurettes. A Blu-ray version was released on April 14, 2009.
Sequel
A second film is in development with Paramount Pictures for a 2010 release in the United States and United Kingdom. According to the Internet Movie Database, the sequel has been written by Leslie Dixon, (Freaky Friday, Hairspray) and Gail Parent (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen). Both have previously written for films starring Lindsay Lohan.[11]
Pop culture
R&B singer Mariah Carey expressed several times that she's a fan of the movie, using some quotes from the film in several interviews, most notably on The Ellen Degeneres Show in 2005 and in her official Twitter updates in 2009. Carey released the first single from her album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, called "Obsessed", which begins with an interlude quote where she says, "And I was like, 'Why are you so obsessed with me?'" a line said by Regina in the film. Also, the male stalker (Carey) gets hit by a bus, another reference to Regina in the film. Carey's husband Nick Cannon debunked other theories and revealed the song was inspired by the film itself.[12]
References
External links
