Review of Mean Girls (2004) by Griffin H — 03 Aug 2013

Mean Girls is a smart comedy about a group of caty high school girls. Many people (especially guys) don't want to watch a movie about caty high school girls. If that is the only reason you have not watched this movie, I encourage you to watch. To date it is Lilo's (and possibly Tina Fey's) greatest accomplishment.

It stars LiLo, playing Cady (pronounced Katie, occasionally mispronounced Caty, not quite a triple pun). She grew up in Africa until she was sixteen and moved to an upper class Chicago Suburb. As a Junior she attends public high school for the first time. While there she can't help but draw comparisons between the jungle cats of Africa and the caty (see, not quite a triple pun) behavior of the girls. LiLo is an awesome actress, and I cannot wait for her to return to acting.

There are three members of the plastics (4 if you count Cady). It is important to note that the plastics are not the titular Mean Girls.

Regina is their leader (Like Moe). She is the most popular girl is school. It seems she is Machiavellian, but I disagree. She wants to be the most popular girl in school, but so does everyone. Her move with the burn book is brilliant, but lacks foresight. It is done merely out of spite, she does not have a plan to use it to turn her back into the most popular girl is school. She is the most popular girl in school not because of political maneuvering, but because she is smart and beautiful.

Gretchen doesn't appear to want to be the most popular girl in school instead she wants to be best friends with the most popular girl in school. She is very successful at this being best friends with all three in succession. As an important side note her father invented Toaster Stroodles.

Karen, dumb blond. She is perhaps the only good hearted person in this movie, at least of the Junior class. A cynical person might believe that this is because she is too dumb to be mean. She is very loyal to Gretchen until the end, where it appears that they split apart.

Not a member of the plastics, but still a mean girl is Janis. She was best friends with Regina until a rumor started that Janis is a lesbian (which she is not). After this Janis's life was ruined. She would have made a good plastic if this had not happened. The entire plot of the movie is her plot to get revenge on Regina.

Despite being too gay to function Damian is the quickest of all the mean girls. He is Janis's best friend. He is also the one most willing to do mean things for the sake of being mean.

There are other characters, Aaron, the teachers, Cady's parents, and the other cliques. I will not go into detail except to say that they are written and preformed beautifully. I would like to take this time to praise Tim Meadows performance. He truly is the Morgan Freeman of comedy. His mere presence makes the movie better.

The story begins as a fish out of water tale. Cady moves from the savanna of Africa to the Illinois public school system. While there she has to choose between two social groups, the plastics and the outsiders (or, the coolest people you will ever meet). She chooses the plastics, until Regina kisses a boy she likes. After that she gets involved in Janis's revenge plot. Cady infiltrates the plastics and learns about the burn book. The burn book has mean things to say about all the girls in the Junior class.

After a series of failed attempts, Janis's plan to topple Regina the evil dictator is successful (This was 2004, toppling evil dictators was all the rage). Janis is appalled to learn that rather than creating a utopia, Cady was the new queen bee. In the midst of all this the burn book is revealed, leading to one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

The humor in this movie is terrific. The phrase "army of skanks" will attempt to enter every conversation I have until the day I die. The humor of this movie finally takes us away from the awful style of "There's Something about Mary," (except that horrid fart joke, a definite low point of the movie). Once more, Tim Meadows. Cady's fantasies and Lizzie Maguire moments are highlights of the comedic style.There are great cultural references, from the obscure (Janis Ian), to Dennis Miller (Fetchen Gretchen). Fetchen Gretchen is near to the end of my pop cultural awareness. So there must be many more references that I do not get.

As I have mentioned, all the girls are mean, not just the plastics. Damian refers to one young lady young lady as Danny DiVito, thats probably the meanest line from the whole movie, and it is random and unmotivated. Janis's actions are at least motivated. She is also the one who admits that all girls (including herself) aren't mean. She would have been plastic if not for the rumor. In my opinion Regina actually believed that Janis was a lesbian. In which case her actions were justified (you can't blame a 13 year old for being homophobic). She betrayed Cady and made out with Aaron, but Cady should not have gone after a friends Ex. Even though she said it was okay, it still wasn't okay (when girls say yes they mean no).

High school girls are mean. It's who they are. They cannot help it. They will say mean things about and to each other. People seem to forget that these are not the same girls making these mistakes over and over again. At the end of the movie Damian points out the new plastics, showing that these are different girls each year making the same mistakes. It is natural and human for it to happen. It is better that they make these mistakes in high school, where it is relatively safe, than when they grow up and become senators. At the end of the day we can't stop the gossip, but we can do our best not to do things that actually hurt others.