Mean Girls (2004) Movie Review

***Reader-Submitted Review***

By: Elise Shae


Directed by: Mark Waters
Written by:
Rosalind Wiseman (book "Queen Bees and Wannabes")
Tina Fey (screenplay)
Starring:
Lindsay Lohan - Cady Heron
Rachel McAdams - Regina George
Lacey Chabert - Gretchen Wieners
Amanda Seyfried - Karen Smith
Lizzy Caplan - Janis Ian
Ana Gasteyer - Cady's Mom
Tina Fey - Ms. Norbury
Amy Poehler - Mrs. George
Daniel Franzese - Damian
Neil Flynn - Cady's Dad
Jonathan Bennett - Aaron Samuels
Tim Meadows - Mr. Duvall
Rajiv Surendra - Kevin Gnapoor







There comes a time in every girl's awkward high school years where she is offered a place at the cool-girl table. For Cady Heron, (Lindsay Lohan) the main character in the comedy, "Mean Girls", this time came when she was least expecting it.
"Mean Girls", directed by Mark Walters and written by the hilarious Tina Fey (who also plays Ms. Norbury, a middle age teacher dealing with a midlife crisis) is a film that depicts every outcast's nightmare: High school. This specific story follows Cady, a new student at Evanston Township High School. After spending her whole life growing up being home schooled and in Africa, she has not the slightest idea of what to expect at her new town and school.


Her first day starts off tough. The idea of quietly sitting in place for fifty minutes while learning about a single subject is foreign to her. Interactions with her fellow students is even worse. Cady moves about the day in an awkward trance, unable to find anyone she relates to and feels as though she is left with no choice but to eat lunch alone in a bathroom stall. The next day is equally as painfully awkward to watch, however Cady meets two life-changing friends: Janis, a goth teenager with a dark outlook on life and Damian, a young boy more feminine than Cady and Janis combined. The three meet in an unusual manor, Cady sits down followed by Damian grabbing her long locks and informs Janis that "This is the color I'm looking for!" then compares it to his hair.

Cady follows the odd duo throughout the day while they tell her everything she needs to know in order to survive at Evanston High. The three eventually find themselves on the lawn of the school, staring at the building. A gym class enters onto the school field. Upon seeing this class, Janis and Damian do a simultaneous eye roll and begin informing Cady on the most important thing to know about at their high school: The Plastics.

The Plastics is made up of three seventeen year-old years, all so perfect they resemble Barbie. Not only are they gorgeous, they are also rich, incredibly mean, and as the movie rolls on, they become more and more insane. Despite all this, insecure girls at the high school long to be just like The Plastics. If you look flawless then life is great, right? There is Karen (Amanda Seyfried), who cannot seem to tell up from down, Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) a girl who "is full of secrets. That's why her hair is so big." and then their leader, the evil Regina (Rachel McAdams). Janis warns Cady to completely avoid these three, seeing as they are all trouble.


That day at lunch Cady is ironically invited to sit with The Plastics at lunch. At first she is hesitant to accept their offer but Janis forces her too. Janis hopes they adopt Cady into their group. She sees this as an opportunity to have a spy on the inside and could use this as a way to get revenge on Regina for a middle school prank she did to Janis that had lasting effects. Cady had no option but to do whatever Janis wanted her to do because all she wanted was a friend, even if her friend was using her for a personal vendetta. So, Cady goes along with it and begins to follow every Plastic rule. Her Wednesdays become the day she wears pink while sweatpants become a taboo in her closet. Behind the scenes, Janis and Damian cook up awful plans to make Regina fat, break up the plastics, and rip away Regina's current boy obsession, Aaron Samuels, someone Cady also is interested in.

The plot is predictable, however the writing and the way the actors portray their roles convey a message to young girls dealing with bullies. At every middle school or high school in America there is that one pretty girl everyone assumes is perfect. Rather than obsessing on finding the flaws within someone "flawless", "Mean Girls" shows us that plastic is something that is simple, something easily breakable. It shows us that no matter how hard we try to be like someone else, we will always be happiest in our own skin.