Mean Girls 1 & 2 (2004 - 2011)

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

Black Christmas 1974 vs Black Christmas 2006

Black Christmas (1974)

Directed by: Bob Clark

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Keir Dullea and John Saxon

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

Its Christmas time and the girls of Pi Kappa Sig are getting ready to head home for the holidays. They begin receiving obscene phone calls, but think of them as nothing more than a demented prank. As they go about their celebrations an intruder goes unnoticed creeping into the house. As the girls are killed off one by one, our heroine, Jess, alerts the police and together they try and catch the killer.

                Noted as the First American Slasher, Black Christmas (1974) has become a cult classic for genre fans, and it is easy to see why. This film has all of the elements that make up a great horror film - the most prominent of these being the atmosphere. Despite the fact that inside the house appears to be cozy and cheery, the viewer can’t help having a sense of dread. After all, the audience knows what the characters do not – that there is someone else in the house. The exterior of the home is only showed in shadow and at night, making it appear a lot more ominous than the real house actually was. We also get a few point of view shots from the killer as he breaks into the house, spies on the girls and prepares for a kill.

                The kill scenes are modest, but ultimately more effective. Only three of the deaths are shown onscreen, yet only one of them really shows the death. The audience gets the idea of how the character is being murdered, but doesn’t actually see it happening. As most horror films post early 1970s delved into the use of special effects and gore, this film is a nice change of pace. The amount of blood is minimal and many of the deaths go unseen, playing into the suspense factor.

                This film does keep up the suspense throughout the entire story, both dealing with the killer hiding in the attic, the creepy phone calls, and the subplots that interconnect. The audience is always wondering if that phone ringing is the killer calling the girls (and if it is, what he is going to say – as each call gets progressively more disturbing) who is going to die or what Jess is going to do about her own problems. It helps that the characters are likable and fleshed out well enough for the actors to give them each a presence.

                The acting and characterization in this film is very well done. The characters are believable as college students and friends and also very memorable. Olivia Hussey was already a seasoned actress before she took the leading role as Jess and she was great as usual. However, it’s Margot Kidder’s Barb that steals the show as the sarcastic alcoholic of the group. Barb is not afraid to fire back at anyone, from the obscene phone caller to the police sergeant, and creates a bit of comic relief in an otherwise dark film. It’s also nice to see that these girls are more than just two-dimensional knife fodder, as both Jess and Barb clearly have other things going on in their lives. After them, Ms. Mac, the housemother, is the most memorable, with her sarcastic remarks and hidden collection of booze – quite possibly a future Barb. Keir Dullea is convincing as Jess’s neurotic and somewhat intimidating boyfriend, Peter. The other girls, Phyl (Andrea Martin) and Claire, stand out much less, but fit into the mold just fine.

                I really liked how this film tackled issues that many films today are still afraid to tackle: abortion and alcoholism. Many films show a character who drinks constantly, but not many bother to look into why. Its clear that Barb’s alcoholism stems from a bad relationship with her mother. Abortion was a fairly new thing in the 1970s, legally speaking, so to have a character in a film contemplating the idea is a brave move on the part of the writers and director. These two elements really stand out, marking this as one of the first intelligent slasher films bold enough to try something a bit different.

Overall: Great acting, camera work, characterization and atmosphere make this film the classic it has become. It is suspenseful and claustrophobic, but also intelligent. It deals with real issues that affect college students making the characters more believable and likable. Tie into that a little taste of humor and you’ve got quite the amazing film.

8.5/10

Black Christmas (2006)

Directed by: Glen Morgan

Starring: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, and Andrea Martin

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

 If anyone has been following my blog, they know that I’m very tough on remakes. This one is no exception, especially considering how unnecessary this remake was. In my opinion, the original holds up very well as far as relatable characters, suspense, atmosphere and chills, but apparently Hollywood begs to differ. Enter Black Christmas (2006), a modern retelling that adds little to the story and takes quite a bit away.

The plot is very similar to the original film. Once again we have a house full of sorority sisters preparing for the holidays and receiving creepy phone calls. One by one, over the course of an evening, the girls start to be picked off by an escaped mental patient who once called their house his home.

                In this version, we learn a lot more about “Billy and Agnes” – the two names used frequently in the disturbing calls the girls received in the original film. While the killer’s back story was kept a secret in 1974, the 2006 version brings the audience yet another tale of twisted abuse and neglect that made the killer do the things he does. The 1974 phone calls hinted at something sinister that had happened, this film held nothing back. Severe child abuse and cannibalism? Sure, why not?

                Along with the mystery surrounding the killer, the creepy atmosphere is gone too. There aren’t any point of view shots and the house doesn’t seem ominous in the least. The film was supposed to take place during a snow storm (how original) but I didn’t even realize that until halfway through the film. The phone calls aren’t really that scary either – they try to capture the essence of the original calls but lack the intensity. Plus, these calls are clearly scripted while the originals were improvised by director Bob Clark.

                Not only did this remake remove all mystery surrounding the killer and the eerie atmosphere of the 1974 classic, it sucked the personalities out of the sorority girls as well. That was really disappointing considering the cast of well-known actresses like Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Lacey Chabert – all of which have promising careers ahead of them. The only girl that stood out was Cassidy as the heroine, Kelli. All of the others blended together in a rather monotonous stream of victims. Winstead’s character is supposed to be from the south, but we only hear a bit of a southern accent in one portion of dialogue from her. Trachtenberg’s Melissa is supposed to be the more caring sister, but even that is barely shown. There was also an attempt to revive Margot Kidder’s Barb in the character of Lauren, but while Barb had a sharp wit, Lauren comes off as angry at the world and rather unlikable.

                In addition to what was removed from the original story, unnecessary clichés were also brought to it. As aforementioned, I didn’t really like having the back story provided for “Billy and Agnes.” I personally find it creepier not knowing anything about past events and the killer him or herself. The fact that the audience never learns anything about the killer in the original makes it stand out. Instead, the viewer receives another version of the current horror cliché – the extremely abusive childhood that made the killer snap. We also have a nude shower scene and a sex tape that are utterly pointless and add nothing to the story. We also get the classic “power failure in the middle of the storm” scare and the death while checking the fuse box, as well as the old “severed head falling out of the car” gag. It feels like the people behind this wanted to make this as unoriginal as possible.

                The kills tried to pay homage to the deaths in the original film – but didn’t work as well. They happened too fast for my liking, focusing more on the gruesome aspects than on the suspense and helpless atmosphere. Instead of deaths barely seen, we have characters choked and stabbed in rapid succession, and many shots of eyes being gouged out and then eaten by the killer. That’s not so much scary as it is gross.

                There were a few things I liked about the film, however. I really liked that Andrea Martin (Phyl from the 1974 version) was brought back as the house mother. I thought that was a very nice touch and fun little homage. Also, the use of the crystal unicorn (a very memorable prop from the original) as a murder weapon was another nice nod to the film’s predecessor. The gore effects weren’t bad either, though slightly redundant.

Overall: This film had the potential to be quite good with the talented cast, bigger budget, and modern special effects. Instead, writer/director Glen Morgan decided to use gross-out gore and every cliché he could think of to turn a classic film into typical modern teenybopper slasher drivel.

4.5/10