Mean Girls (2004)
Directed by: Mark
Waters
Starring: Lindsay
Lohan, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan,
Daniel Franzese, Jonathan Bennett, Amy Poehler, Neil Flynn, Ana Gasteyer and
Tim Meadows
Genre: Comedy, Teen
Comedy
Rated: PG-13
Based on the book, Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind
Wiseman
Sixteen-year-old Cady Heron (Lohan) is going to public
school for the first time, and is immediately overwhelmed by current teen
culture. At first her only friends are Janis (Caplan) and Damien (Franzese),
but soon she catches the eye of The Plastics – the most popular girls in
school. At Janis’s insistence, she continues to hang out with these girls to
get the inside scoop. However, it becomes war when Regina (McAdams) knowingly
steals Cady’s crush, and Cady joins forces with Janis to take down Regina once
and for all.
I’m actually surprised how this movie had to grow on me. I
first saw it when it hit DVD I wasn’t that impressed. It took me a few years to
really enjoy the humor and understand the message of the film. Also I wasn’t as
big of a fan of Tina Fey as I am today, and it sometimes takes a bit to
understand her brand of funny.
The characters in this film are fabulous. Cady is great as
the center focus of the film, but she is pretty much the straight character to
everyone else’s quirks. Her character develops while little changes in the rest
of them – but we wouldn’t have it any other way. I have to say Janis and Regina
steal the show as the true mean girls. Janis has held a grudge against Regina
since junior high, when Regina made her an outcast, and she has to use her own
defensive humor to get her through the days at school. She jumps at the chance
to destroy Regina’s life. Meanwhile, Regina is the typical spoiled little rich
girl who gets everything she could possibly want and isn’t grateful for any of
it. She’s the girl you love to hate. As Damien says, “She’s fabulous, but she’s
evil.”
The rest of the characters are great as well. Damien is the
hilarious “gay best friend” and only true friend Janis has until Cady enters
the picture. Gretchen (Chabert) and Karen (Seyfried) are giggle-inducing as
Regina’s lackeys, and of course the quirky doesn’t end with the students. Ms.
Norbury (Fey) has Tina’s dry, self-deprecating wit, Mr. Duval (Meadows) tries
too hard to relate to the students, and Mrs. George (Poehler) is the overly exaggerated
“cool mom” that tries to be friends with the teenage girls.
The performances are all pitch perfect. I don’t have a
single complaint with the casting. In fact, this movie often makes me a little
sad because it reminds me of what Lohan could have been if she had just kept
her act together. Instead, the film’s breakout stars are actually Rachel McAdams
and Amanda Seyfried, who have gone on to make many popular films.
I really enjoy the message of this movie – which is,
ultimately, be yourself and you’ll find true happiness. The people who deserve
to be in your life will be there anyway. I loved Cady’s character arc as she
discovers the awful things girls do to each other, gets caught up in it, and
finally finds her way back to herself. The movie lectures against being mean to
one another and learning to respect everyone no matter their differences. It’s
a humorous look at the evil things girls do to one another in order to be more
popular, get a guy, win a crown, etc, and examines if it is all really worth it
in the end.
I think this is a great film that should be watched by all
preteen to teenage girls and their mothers. It explores the evil of girlhood
and explains how it’s best to avoid such behavior, all the while being funny
and entertaining.
8/10
Mean Girls 2 (2011)
Directed by: Melanie
Mayron
Starring: Meaghan
Martin, Claire Holt, Maiara Walsh, Nicole Gale Anderson, Jennifer Stone,
Bethany Anne Lind and Tim Meadows
Genre: TV Movie,
Comedy, Teen Comedy
Rated: PG-13
Jo Mitchell (Martin) is new to North Shore High, having
landed at her fifth school in three years. Since her father moves around a lot
for his job fixing NASCAR race cars, Jo never stays at the same school very
long, thus she has some ground rules: she doesn’t make friends or date because
she will just have to move and leave it all behind. But all that changes when
she begins her senior year at North Shore and meets Abby Hanover (Stone), the
richest outcast ever. Abby’s father offers to pay Jo to be Abby’s friend and Jo
agrees, only to find that being Abby’s friend really angers Mandi (Walsh)
leader of The Plastics – who makes it her personal mission to ruin Jo’s life.
Aside from being an unnecessary made-for-TV sequel, the
first part of this film really isn’t bad. I really liked Jo’s character – she was
a badass with confidence and didn’t let the typical rules of social hierarchy
dictate her life. She takes shop, loves junk food, drives a Vespa and has no
problem telling the bitchy popular chicks where to stick it. Abby is also
adorable as the shy outcast, secret artist, and frequent victim of Mandi’s
torment.
However, aside from Tyler, Jo’s love interest, Jo and Abby
are really the only decent characters in the film. While in the first movie The
Plastics were mean but still likable, here they are just evil with no redeeming
characteristics. They are cliché cardboard cutouts of typical popular girls – I
was surprised none of them were on the cheerleading squad. Then, of course,
there’s the brown-nosing Quinn (Lind) who longs to be popular and will hang
with whoever seems to hold the crown in that department. I wanted to smack her
in every scene that she was in.
I didn’t really like the story of this flick. It starts off
great with Jo strutting into school with her kickass attitude and the first
thirty minutes or so are great. I really liked that Jo held her head high
through most of Mandi’s attacks, and didn’t stoop to her level until Mandi
sabotaged the car Jo’s father was working on. Jo does not take attacks on her
family easily, nor should she. It is only then that she begins to lose herself
in “Girl World” and taking down Mandi.
After that thirty minute mark, this film stepped out of the
realm of realistic. I don’t believe for a second that Mandi and her dimwit
friends would have the first clue how to sabotage a car – they don’t have a
techie brain cell amongst the three of them. Nor that these girls wouldn't be charged with crimes such as trespassing and destruction of private property. No need to fight like a girl, just have the brat arrested. Also, as a once-victim of mean
girl attacks, they don’t usually go after your family – they just make your
life a living hell. This action proves psychotic and out of bounds, even for a “mean
girl.” Especially when Jo’s only crime was being nice, confident, and
attractive – basically being more appealing than Mandi. In fact, all of the “Crimes
Against Mandi” are ridiculous – Abby feeding Mandi’s dog, having a better
purse, or getting a better parking spot – is that REALLY stuff that teenage
girls attack each other over? Has my five years outside of high school put me
THAT out of the loop?
I also don’t understand why Jo challenges Mandi to a
football game. What is that supposed to prove? Jo says, “We’re going to settle
this like men,” well, then punch her in the face! That is how
guys resolve issues, they beat the crap out of each other and then go get a
beer. They don’t challenge each other to a game of football - especially one that gives the players a
week or so to prepare for. Jo had nothing to lose at that point, why not just
tackle the snob and have it out physically? Oh, because that would promote
violence and that’s something we need to avoid teaching kids. I’m not promoting
it, but sometimes it is the only way to get a bully off your back. Also, it's a far more realistic reaction to Mandi's attacks than what actually happened.
There are also some inconsistencies between this one and the
first, namely that in the original, North Shore High was located in Illinois,
not Ohio. Also, the original Plastics didn’t call themselves The Plastics, that
was a snide name for them made up by their classmates. In this version, Mandi
and her friends hold the title proudly, and they don’t even come close to being
the originals. The writing was mediocre at best, and the three writers on this
flick couldn’t match the single talent of Tina Fey.
The acting was amateur, but Martin and Stone stood out among
the kids, and Meadows was funny in his revival of Principal Duval. The Plastics
were sup-par in my opinion, but that could also be because their characters
were so weak they really had nothing to work with. The actors can only do so
much with what they are given, and when they are only given one-dimensional
characters with few personality traits, there’s not much they can do.
I also found the wardrobe in this movie laughable. The
Plastics boast about owning Prada, Versace and Jimmy Choo, yet their wardrobe
looks like it came from the junior’s department of JC Penney. (No slam to the
company, I shop there frequently.) While The Plastics in the first film looked
sleek and put together, these girls look childish. Also, I’ve never seen knee
high nylons with skirts being revered as fashionable. Who wears heels
when breaking and entering, especially to sabotage a racecar? Lastly, I would think Mandi would have a little
more class than to have a giant tramp stamp, but I guess not.
Overall, this is quite the forgettable, unnecessary sequel.
The story is weak, the mean girls over the top, and the acting mediocre. It’s
okay for a watch if you’re bored on a rainy afternoon or are curious about the Mean Girls sequel, but honestly, I’ll
stick with the original.
5.5/10
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