Mean Girls (Movie Review)

One of the funniest films of 2004, Mean Girls ranks among some of the best high school comedies of all time. Right up there with Clueless, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and American Pie, Mean Girls has some of the most hilarious comic scenes of the decade. Written by Saturday Night Live mainstay Tina Fey (who also stars as a teacher in the film), Mean Girls is supposed to chronicle some of the author's personal experiences in the social world of academics. Irrespective of its similarities to real life, Mean Girls is a light-hearted comedy with likeable characters, and it's just plain funny...

Lindsay Lohan plays Cady Heron, a previously home-schooled, sixteen year old daughter of two world-traveling anthropologists. When her parents decide to settle down, Cady attends public school for the first time in her life. While there, she befriends social outcasts Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese) who tell her all about the inner-workings of their high school. Cady learns about The Plastics, a group of three girls who compose the social elites of the school. The previous beneficiary of Plastics leader Regina's wrath, Janis longs for the day when she can exact revenge on her former best friend from eighth grade.

When The Plastics - Regina George (Rachel McAdams), Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert), and Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) - take a liking to Cady and give her an exclusive invitation to eat lunch with them, Janis sees her opportunity for revenge. She concocts a plan to send Cady into the world of The Plastics as an "undercover agent," and together, Cady, Janis, and Damian work to dig up dirt on the girls. However, the line between pretend and reality starts to blur for Cady, souring her relationship with Janis. And Cady's affection for Regina's former boyfriend Aaron (Jonathan Bennett) threatens to create a permanent chasm between the two girls... Throw in a showdown between two groups of math-letes, and you've got yourself quite a movie!

As the lead character, Cady, Lindsay Lohan portrays a very likeable person, an intelligent, sweet girl who experiences her first foray into the world of public school. The audience's ability to identify with and like Cady makes it easier to enjoy a film where she alienates two groups of high school clicks and virtually everyone else around her. Meanwhile, Rachel McAdams (rising Hollywood star and lead from The Notebook) is brilliant in her performance as the socially aggressive, backstabbing Regina George.

Mean Girls is a classic Darwinian high school comedy, similar to the hit TV show Freaks And Geeks, except with a little less edge. If you enjoyed the high school comedy films of the 1980's, like Can't Buy Me Love, then you'll thoroughly enjoy Mean Girls. With a well-written screenplay and supporting appearances by Saturday Night Live regulars Tina Fey and Tim Meadows, Mean Girls is a hilarious comedy and a definite must-see film...

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