Mean Girls

Mean Girls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Waters
Produced by	Lorne Michaels Tony Shimkin Louise Rosner Jill Messick
Written by	Tina Fey Book: Rosalind Wiseman
Starring	Lindsay Lohan Rachel McAdams Lacey Chabert Amanda Seyfried Tina Fey
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Daryn Okada
Editing by	Wendy Greene Bricmont
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	April 30, 2004 (2004-04-30)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Uhited Stares Canada
Language	English German Vietnamese Swahili
Budget	$17 million[1]
Gross revenue	$129,042,871[1]
Followed by	Mean Girls 2

Mean Girls is a 2004 American/Canadian teen comedy film, directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and based in part 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. The film stars Lindsay Lohan and 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 Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler.

Described by director Mark Waters as "Clueless meets Heathers",^[2] Mean Girls follows the home-schooled 16-year-old Cady Heron (Lohan) as she enters her first year of public high school.

The film was generally well received by critics and was a big financial success, grossing $129,042,871 worldwide. Mean Girls has been praised as Lohan's break-out film role.^[3] A sequel, Mean Girls 2, is currently in production. Mean Moms, a quasi-spinoff, based on Wiseman's second book, Queen Bees Moms & King Pin Dads, is also in development.^[4]

Plot

The 16-year-old home-schooled daughter of zoologist parents (Ana Gasteyer and Neil Flynn) living somewhere in East Africa, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), is unprepared for her first day of public high school at fictional North Shore High School in Evanston, Illinois. With the help of social misfits Janis (Lizzy Caplan) 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's best friend. Janis hatches a plan for Cady to infiltrate the Plastics and get revenge for when Regina started a rumor about Janis's sexuality in 8th grade. Her plan involves cutting off Regina's "resources", which include separating her from her boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), destroying her good looks, and turning Regina's two best friends against her: insecure rich girl Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and dimwitted 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 slandering rumors, secrets, and gossip about all the other girls (and teachers) in their class. Cady soon falls in love with Aaron, whom Regina successfully steals back from Cady in a fit of jealousy. Cady then ups the ante by pretending failure at math to get Aaron's attention, and in retaliation against Regina, convincing the latter to eat high-calorie nutrition bars by claiming that they actually help one lose weight. She also choreographs Aaron's breakup with Regina by confessing Regina's infidelity with another boy.

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, abandoning Janis and Damien in the process. Regina, now slightly overweight due to Cady's diet 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. Janis and Damien then renounce Cady as a friend. During the party, she also alienates Aaron with her unsavory new personality.

Regina discovers the truth about the bars she has been eating and strikes back by spreading the entire contents of her Burn Book around the school, inciting a riot; to avoid suspicion, Regina also inserts fake slander of herself in the book, in order to focus blame on Cady, Gretchen, and Karen. The riot is eventually quelled by Principal Duvall (Tim Meadows). Math teacher Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey)—who also appeared in the Burn Book, where Cady slandered her by saying that she sold drugs—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 Regina with the support of the entire school. Regina storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady, and gets hit by a school bus in her haste; rumors circulate that Cady intentionally pushed Regina in front of the bus.

Now without friends, shunned by Aaron, and distrusted 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. As punishment for her part, Ms. Norbury has Cady join the Mathletes—which Damien described earlier as "social suicide"—in their competition.

At the Spring Fling dance, Cady is elected Spring Fling Queen and gives a speech to her class that her victory is meaningless; they are all wonderful in their own way and thus the victory belongs to everyone. As a symbolic gesture, she breaks her tiara and distributes the pieces to her fellow classmates. Cady makes up with Janis and Damien, reconciles with Aaron, and reaches a truce with the Plastics.

The film ends with the Plastics disbanding by the start of the new school year: Regina joins the lacrosse team as a way to channel her anger positively, Karen becomes the school weather girl (claiming that her breasts can always tell when it's raining), Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians" clique and is their biggest follower, and Cady dates Aaron as well as hanging out with Janis and Damien. Now reasonably well-liked, Cady reflects that the "Girl World" she lives in is at peace.

Cast

• Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron
• Rachel McAdams as Regina George
• Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Weiners
• Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith
• Tina Fey as Ms. Sharon Norbury
• Tim Meadows as Principal Ron Duvall
• Jonathan Bennett as Aaron Samuels
• Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian; Fey has said that while writing the film she kept referring to this character as "this Janis Ian type" because of the singer's song "At Seventeen" (which also appears in the film). She eventually decided to just name the character "Janis Ian".^[5][6]
• Daniel Franzese as Damien
• Amy Poehler as Mrs. George
• Ana Gasteyer as Betsy Heron
• Neil Flynn as Chip Heron
• Rajiv Surendra as Kevin Gnapoor

Production

Though set on the North Shore of Chicago, the film was partly shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and Malvern 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.

Reception

The film was generally well reviewed by critics, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 83% "Fresh" based on 167 reviews.^[7] and a rating of 66 ("Generally favorable reviews") on Metacritic based on 39 reviews.^[8]

The film was declared an instant success after its opening weekend made $24,432,195 from 2,839 theaters becoming the #1 film in America and averaging $8,606 per venue.^[9] 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.^[10] In the US, the film was the 24th highest grossing film of 2004.^[10]

In an interview about the film, Tina 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."^[11] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, " "Fetch" may never happen, but 2004's eminently quotable movie is still one of the sharpest high school satires ever. Which is pretty grool, if you ask us."^[12]

Awards

The film received many award wins and nominations. The film was nominated for 13 Teen Choice Awards, winning four. The film was also nominated for four MTV Movie Awards, winning three of them. The film was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.^[13]

Influences on pop culture

• Pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey expressed several times that she's a fan of the film, 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. Carey's husband, Nick Cannon, debunked other theories and revealed the song was inspired by the film itself.^[14][15]
• Country singer Kellie Pickler, before Carey, used the accident scene in her 2008 single, "Best Days of Your Life".
• The film helped inspire the popular wrestling alliance, The Beautiful People.

References to other media

The scene immediately preceding the bus accident references The Wizard of Oz; the crowd raises up Janis, who is wearing black and white striped stockings similar to those worn by the Wicked Witch of the East, whose legs protruded from the house that killed her.

Soundtrack

Mean Girls
Soundtrack by various artists
Released	September 21, 2004 (2004-09-21)
Genre	Rock, pop
Label	Rykodisc
Professional reviews
Allmusic link

The soundtrack for the film was released on September 21, 2004, the same day as the DVD release.

Track listing

1. "Dancing with Myself" by The Donnas (Generation X cover)
2. "God Is a DJ" by Pink
3. "Milkshake" by Kelis
4. "Sorry (Don't Ask Me)" by All Too Much
5. "Built This Way" by Samantha Ronson
6. "Rip Her to Shreds" by Boomkat (Blondie cover)
7. "Overdrive" by Katy Rose
8. "One Way or Another" by Blondie
9. "Operate" by Peaches
10. "Misty Canyon" by Anjali Bhatia
11. "Mean Gurl" by Gina Rene and Gabriel Rene
12. "Hated" by Nikki Cleary
13. "Psyché Rock" by Pierre Henry
14. "The Mathlete Rap" by 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, and "Halcyon + On + On" by Orbital.

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.

Video game

A video game for PC and Nintendo DS was released in 2009.^[16] The video game features characters specifically created for the game.

Sequel

A sequel to the film, Mean Girls 2, will be directed by Melanie Mayron. It was filmed in July 2010 in Atlanta.^{[17][18][19][20]} Maiara Walsh confirmed through her Twitter that she will star as the lead "Plastic" in the film.^[21] The story revolves around a new high school student Jo (Meaghan Jette Martin), who agrees to befriend an outcast, Abby (Jennifer Stone), at the urging of Abby's wealthy father in exchange for paying all of Jo's costs for the college of her dreams. Jo and Abby team up to take on the school's mean girls, the Plastics (Mandi, Hope, and Chasity) - Maiara Walsh, Nicole Anderson, and Claire Holt. The story becomes a high-stakes battle of loyalty that ultimately comes to a head when one of the heroines finds out that her friendship has been bought and paid for.^[17] Nicole Anderson (of Jonas L.A.) confirmed on her Twitter account ^[22] that she will be in Mean Girls 2 as did Jennifer Stone.^[23].

Mean Girls: The Musical

In 2010, a stage musical version of the film made its debut in Kingston, NY. The script was adapted by Sean Matthew Whiteford of Saugerties, NY, who also wrote the lyrics and composed the music. The play was performed on July 23 and 24, 2010 by The Castaway Players Theatre Group, a community theatre troupe founded by Whiteford.^[24]

References

External links

• Official website
• Mean Girls at the Internet Movie Database
• Mean Girls at Allmovie
• Mean Girls at Box Office Mojo
• Mean Girls at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mean Girls at Metacritic