Mean Girls

Mean Girls is a 2004 film written by (and co-starring) Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Rachel McAdams and featured several Saturday Night Live cast members, including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler.

Its director, Mark Waters, younger brother of writer Daniel Waters, described the movie as Clueless meets Heathers ^*, the latter of which was written by his brother. It was based on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes (by Rosalind Wiseman), which describes how female middle school social cliques operate, and the effect they can have on girls. The movie was most likely set in high school instead of middle school to heighten the comedic exaggeration and have more appeal to young teens, who often follow (real or imagined) trends of older teens.

Plot

Tagline: Watch your back.

The movie is about Cady Heron "Kay-dee" (played by Lindsay Lohan) who moves to Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, after being raised in Africa by her zoologist parents. Cady's family moved there after her mother got a job at Northwestern University. The first friends she makes at her new school, North Shore High School, are two unpopular kids in "the out crowd," who are unpopular because Damian is "too gay to function," and Janis, played by Lizzy Caplan is a highly rebellious girl who is rumoured to be a lesbian. When Cady asks Damien and Janis where her Health class is, they direct her to the "back building", which, unknown to Cady burned down in 1987. Damien and Janis lead her outside just to sit and talk. There, Damien comments on the "Plastics." Janis informs Cady that they are the most popular girls in the school. Karen Smith (played by Amanda Seyfried), Gretchen Weiners (played by Lacey Chabert), and the Queen Bee, Regina George (played by Rachel McAdams). Janis warns Cady to be careful of those girls. But, the next day, the Plastics invite Cady to become their friend because of her natural beauty.

Damien and Janis convince Cady that it would be fun to pretend to be friends with the Plastics but come back to Janis' house and laugh about everything they say. Cady, a math "geek," is excited to get to her advanced class. But, there, she meets Aaron Samuels (played by Jonathan Bennett). She immediately has a crush on him. The next day, Gretchen asks Cady (while Regina is getting cheese fries) if she has a crush on anyone at North Shore. When Cady tells her Aaron Samuels, Gretchen and Karen both tell her she can't like him because he is Regina's ex-boyfriend. Still, Cady tries to be friends with him, but, when trying to talk to him, is approached by Kevin Gnapoor, head of the Mathletes at North Shore. Ms. Norbury (played by Tina Fey) and Kevin try to convince Cady to join Mathletes. Cady says that she would think about it. Later, at the shopping mall with the Plastics, Cady brings it up with them. The girls all tell her not to join mathletes because it is "social suicide." The group then heads to Regina's huge house. There, they meet Mrs. George (played by Amy Poehler). Mrs. George is only fascinated with becoming friends with Regina and not being a good mother. In Regina's room, the girls look at their "Burn Book," where they cut out pictures of girls in the yearbook and write mean things about them. Cady tells Janis about this, and Janis says that they need to steal the book. However, Cady doesn't want to spy on the Plastics anymore. Janis convinces her to by saying that it will be their "little secret." That night, Regina calls Cady and tells her that she knows her little secret. It turns out, that this secret is the one about Aaron Samuels. Regina tells Cady that it's ok with her if she likes him and that she would talk to Aaron for Cady.

A few weeks later, Aaron invites Cady to his friend's Halloween party. At this party, Cady dresses up as a zombie bride (yet she calls it an ex-wife) while all the other girls are dressed as playboy bunnies. (Cady explains that "Halloween is the one night a year where a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it. The really hardcore girls usually just wear lingerie and some sort of animal ears.") Regina talks to Aaron, but, when she is informed that he invited Cady, she tries to turn him against her by spreading lies about Cady. Then, Regina kisses Aaron. Cady runs out of the party to Janis' house. There, Janis, Damien and Cady concoct a plan to bring down Regina. First, getting rid of her "Hot Body," second cutting off Aaron, and third, turning Gretchen and Karen against her.

Regina, trying to lose three pounds, tries a "fat flush" where she only drinks Cranberry Juice for 72 hours, but the juice makes her break out. Cady goes to Janis (who works at a cosmetics store in the mall) and the two switch foot cream with face cream. Cady then gives this to Regina, but it only makes her face smell like peppermint.

Then, things take a good turn. Regina, who spotted Cady talking with Janis (Cady makes up an explanation), explains that in 8th grade, they were best friends, but Regina suspected that Janis was a lesbian. For Regina's birthday party, an all girls swim party, she doesn't invite Janis. Janis then dropped out of school. She returned for high school with her hair cut off.

Cady figures out how to crack Gretchen. She buys three Candycane Grams (where people write nice notes to other people for Christmas), sends one to Karen and herself but, addresses each as from Regina. Gretchen is hurt when she doesn't get one from Regina. Gretchen thinks that Regina is mad at her. Hurt, Gretchen accidentally starts spilling Regina's secrets, but no helpful ones. At the Christmas talent show, Gretchen is asked to move her spot so the tallest girls go in the middle of Regina and Karen. Gretchen is moved to the end. Gretchen then accidentally kicks the boombox playing their song Jingle Bell Rock at her boyfriend, Jason. Cady, quickly thinking, starts singing the song and quickly everyone in the school picks up on the singing. Regina makes another insult to Gretchen afterwards, which makes Gretchen crack. Later, in the bathroom, Gretchen tells Cady that Regina is cheating on Aaron with Shane Oman in the Projection Room above the Auditorium. After winter break, Cady, Janis, and Damien try to make Aaron catch Regina in the act. Once, Damien steals Cady's purse, and runs for the Projection Room. Aaron follows him, but they catch Coach Carr and an Asian girl, Trang Pak, making out instead.

Soon, while Cady, Janis, and Damien are hanging out at Cady's house, Damien spots Kalteen bars. Cady tells him that her mother used them to make the African children gain weight. Janis, Cady, and Damien then feed these to Regina, telling her that if she eats them, she'll lose weight. Cady asks Aaron to be her tutor after she purposely starts failing math so she could talk to him. At her house, Cady kisses him, and then tells Aaron that Regina is cheating on her. Aaron breaks up with Regina. Regina becomes depressed ("I gave him everything! I was half a virgin when I met him!") and looks to the other Plastics for help. Karen suggests that they go to Taco Bell. Regina quickly discards this as Karen being stupid. Regina and Gretchen go away to talk elsewhere. Cady talks to Karen who says that she has "ESPN" and that her breasts can tell if it's going to rain. Well, as long as it is already raining.

Later, Ms. Norbury tells Cady that she needs her parents to sign her math test to know that she is failing. She also mentions that she is a "pusher." At Regina's house, the girls take this out of context and think that she is a drug pusher. They put it in the Burn Book.

Soon, the ballots for Spring Fling Queen come out. The nominees are Regina, Gretchen, Janis (who was nominated as a joke by Damien) and Cady. Regina then went to see how her dress that she put on hold in January was doing. However, the dress didn't fit her because she was gaining weight. The store clerk suggests that Regina go to Sears to find a dress. Now, two things have been crossed off of Janis, Cady, and Damien's list.

Janis asks Cady if she can come to her art show that is coming up soon. But, it turns out that Cady and her family are going to Madison to see a performance by Ladysmith Black Mambazo that night. Cady then calls Regina to ask if she is mad at Gretchen. Regina says no and calls Karen a slut. Gretchen, who is on the third line, calls Karen. However, Karen is on the phone with Regina. Regina asks if Karen wants to go out. Karen, then, switches to Gretchen, who tells her what Regina said. Karen then switches to Regina and fakes a cough, saying that she's sick, which makes Regina angry. ("Boo, you whore!")

The next day, the girls turn on Regina. At lunch, Gretchen and Karen comment on Regina wearing sweat pants. Regina looks for sympathy by saying that they are the only thing that fits her. But, she finds no sympathy and walks away. She bumps into a fat girl who calls her a "fat ass" and makes her spill her entire lunch.

Gretchen and Karen turn to Cady as the new Queen Bee. Cady tells her parents that she doesn't want to go out of town with them because she is going to Janis' art show, but she really plans to have a party. Her parents unknowingly agree with this. That night, the party gets way out of control and Cady gets drunk. She enters her room where she sees Aaron looking through her pictures. Aaron tells her that he wants to get over Regina and have "no more liars." Cady then, thinking it's funny, reveals that she is failing math because she wanted a reason to talk to Aaron. He doesn't find this funny and tells her that she's a clone of Regina. Regina, who now found out about the party enters the room, just as Cady throws up on Aaron. Aaron quickly exits. While Cady is chasing Aaron, she sees Janis and Damien driving by. Janis yells at her and tells her that she is "cold, hard plastic." Cady asks why Janis is "like in love with ^* or something." Janis gets very upset and they drive away. Regina, taling to Shane Oman, a football player and wrestler, finds out that the Kalteen bars are to gain weight. Shane knows this because his Coach gives those to them when they want to move up in weight. Regina gets in a rage and screams all the way home.

Regina, really angry now, pulls out her Burn Book and places a photo of herself in the book. She writes horrible things about herself, like that she is a "fugly slut." Regina, knowing that the only girls not in the book are her former friends, brings it to the principal, Mr. Duvall (played by Tim Meadows). He gets very upset and calls the girls to his office. While they are in the office, Regina throws print out copies of the book throughout the school. When the girls get out of class, they all attack each other. Mr. Duvall's secretary comes in, saying that the girls have "gone wild." Mr. Duvall and Ms. Norbury try to break it up, but both are attacked. Ms. Norbury is pushed right onto the page saying that she is a "drug pusher." Mr. Duvall, upset, breaks the fire alarm, setting off the sprinkler, and tells all the junior girls to go to the gym immediately. Damien tags along.

Mr. Duvall, after unsuccessfully attempting to deal with the girls' clique problems, hands the reins over to Ms. Norbury. Ms. Norbury makes all the girls confront each other and dive into a pile of girls who will catch them in a trust fall. Cady wants to appologize to Ms. Norbury for her derogatory remarks, but can't do so because she would be blamed for the whole Burn Book. Janis, still angry at Cady, reveals her whole plan against Regina. All the girls cheer for Janis and carry her off. Regina runs out and Cady follows her. While Regina is yelling at Cady, she is hit by a bus. She breaks her spine.

The next day, the police search Ms. Norbury's classroom for drugs. The only reason they do this elaborate search is because the allegations against Coach Carr making out with girls was true. Cady, feeling bad, admits to writing the book.

Cady then decides to "suck all the poision out of her life." She appologizes to Regina. Then, she admits to her father that she is failing math. Mr. Heron then grounds her, although he is not really clear on what that entails. She also apologizes to Ms. Norbury. As her own punishment, Ms. Norburry makes Cady attend the Mathlete state finals, which is on the same night as the Spring Fling Dance.

At the Mathlete tournament, North Shore and Marymont are in a tiebreaker round. In a tiebreaker, the other team gets to select their opponent. North Shore selects an ugly girl named Caroline Kraft. Marymont selects Cady. The problem is on limits. While doing the problem, Cady makes fun of Kraft in her head, but, then realizes that making fun of someone else doesn't make her feel better about herself and that ruining Regina's life doesn't make her feel better. Kraft, during Cady's revelation, answers the problem, though incorrectly. Cady relives Ms. Norburry's lesson on limits and realizes the answer. North Shore wins the tournament.

Mr. & Mrs. Heron realize that Cady is out of the house though she is grounded and go to the Spring Fling Dance, expecting to see Cady there. The Mathlete team arrives at the dance just as Mr. Duvall is announcing Spring Fling Queen. Cady wins. Cady then does an unconventional speech. She breaks the plastic tiara in a bunch of pieces and throws them out to all the girls (and Damien) at the High School.

Cady, Janis, and Damien rekindle their friendship. Aaron and Cady rekindle their affection, and they kiss. Regina (in a neck brace) kisses Shane Oman (Spring Fling King) and Duvall and Norburry dance. Janis and Damien even kiss, but neither one finds it pleasurable. Kevin (the Mathlete) swoops in and dances with Janis.

The next year, Regina's spine heals and learns to channel her aggressions into sports. Gretchen learns Vietnamese and hangs out with the "Cool Asians," while Karen puts her "skills" to good use in the morning weather reports. Aaron goes to Northwestern so he and Cady can still see each other. Janis dates Kevin. Cady then forms her group with Janis, Kevin, Damien, Karen and other girls. They all still say "hi" to the former Plastics.

Analysis

In an interview about the film, Fey noted, "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young girls watch it like a reality show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing" ^*.

The role of Janis poked fun at many lesbian stereotypes. For example, the actress who played her, Lizzy Caplan, bore a strong resemblance to Nancy McKeon (McKeon's character on The Facts of Life, Jo Polniaczek, has been parodied in pop culture circles for the last twenty years as being the epitome of "butch dyke"). The character's full name is Janis Ian, a nod to the lesbian singer-songwriter of the same name. While it is hinted at many times during the film that Janis is a lesbian (when asked, she says that her ethnicity is Lebanese, a similar joke being used by Ellen DeGeneres on her sitcom prior to her coming out of the closet), she is revealed to be unequivocally straight during the denouement, in which she apparently has a boyfriend, none other than star mathlete and amateur rapper Kevin Gnapoor.

Though the movie was inspired by the book Queen Bees and Wannabees by Rosalind Wiseman, another non-fiction book for teens, Mean Girls: Facing Your Beauty Turned Beast authored by Hayley DiMarco, was released at the same time as the movie. DiMarco had previously written Dateable: Are You? Are They? and is credited with creating the Biblezine concept while at Thomas Nelson Publishers. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Tina Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School.

Some people have looked at the film as having an anarchist communist viewpoint, in that the film portrays school cliques as being like social classes that are kept in order by the bourgeoisie powers (the Plastics). Regina's distribution of the Burn Book and the resulting riot, thus, is seen as showing the instability and amount of dissatisfaction that is bred by this system. So the film concludes with what is the abolition of all social barriers and controls, as well as the end of hierarchical power as demonstarted by the breaking up of the Spring Fling crown by Cady, so that people are able to pursue their own interests and beliefs.

Cliques

In the film, the following cliques are mentioned:

Freshmen
ROTC Guys
Preps
J.V. (Junior Varsity) Jocks
Asian Nerds (e.g. Tim Pak)
Cool Asians (e.g. Trang Pak)
Varsity Jocks (e.g. Jason)
Unfriendly Black Hotties
Girls Who Eat Their Feelings (Overweight/Obese)
Girls Who Don't Eat Anything (Anorexic)
Sexually Active Band Geeks
Desperate Wannabes
Burnouts
The Greatest People You'll Ever Meet (e.g. Janis, Damian, Cady Heron, among others) (Art Freaks)
The Plastics a.k.a. snobs (e.g. Regina George, Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners, Cady Heron)

Each clique has their own cafeteria fracture table, as seen in a montage narrated by Janis.

Trivia

Film grossed $86,058,055 in the United States, making it Lindsay Lohan's second highest-grossing film to date.
This was Lohan's first non-Disney movie.
Amy Poehler (Mrs. George) is only five years older than Rachel McAdams (Regina).
Rachel McAdams is ten years older than Lindsay Lohan.
Rachel McAdams wears a blond wig in this movie, as revealed by the director and the writer in the DVD commentary. Her actual hair color is dark brown.
Lacey Chabert was the only choice for the role of Gretchen.
Tina Fey admits that she was drawn to Jonathan Bennett to play Aaron Samuels because of his strong resemblance to her Saturday Night Live castmate Jimmy Fallon.
Amanda Seyfried, who plays Karen in the film, originally auditioned for the role of Regina, but producer Lorne Michaels felt she may be better suited for "the dumb one."
Tim Meadows broke his wrist prior to shooting the movie, so Mr. Duvall's carpal tunnel syndrome had to be written into the script.
During the gymnasium confessional, Tim Meadows says "Who has a lady problem that they'd like to talk about?", a reference to his character "Leon Phelps" on SNL.
This movie is listed as Mariah Carey's favorite movie on her website.
A poster of Carey's single "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" is on Damian's wall in a scene.
The term "fetch" has caught on out of irony, as a sarcastic criticism of new trends ^*
The film takes place in Evanston, Illinois, but was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; in Malvern Collegiate Institute's auditorium and other various locations.
The high school in the film, North Shore High School is fictional. The real high school of Evanston, Illinois, however, is Evanston Township High School
Regina means "Queen" in Latin and Regina is the "Queen Bee".
The television programme House makes an oblique reference to Mean Girls in the season 2 episode House vs. God:

House: "How many times can you hit pause at the part where Lindsay Lohan plays the spelling bee? What is it about girls who can spell?"

Wilson: "It's a math contest."

House: "What is it about girls who can count?"

Amanda Seyfried had previously appeared in the season 1 episode Detox.
Lizzy Caplan was Tina Greer in Smallville season 1 episode 4 "X-Ray" and Season 2 episode 11 "Visage"
Two voice actors from Beyblade were present.
Daniel DeSanto (voice actor of Rei Kon) played the perverted teen Jason, the boyfriend of Gretchen
It was also said that David Reale II (voice actor of Kai Hiwatari) made a cameo in the movie
The leader of the Asian Nerds is the brother of the Asian Cools.

External links

2004 films | American films | Criminal comedy films | Paramount films | Teen comedy films

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Mean Girls

Plot

Analysis

Cliques

Trivia

See also

External links