Mean Girls

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Mean Girls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Waters
Produced by	Lorne Michaels
Written by	Rosalind Wiseman (book Queen Bees and Wannabes) Tina Fey
Starring	Lindsay Lohan Rachel McAdams Lacey Chabert Amanda Seyfried Amy Poehler Ana Gasteyer Tina Fey Tim Meadows Lizzy Caplan Daniel Franzese Neil Flynn Jonathan Bennett
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Daryn Okada
Editing by	Wendy Greene Bricmont
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	April 30, 2004
Running time	97 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Gross revenue	$129,042,871

Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film, based on the book, Queen Bees and Wannabes, directed by Mark Waters and starring Lindsay Lohan. Written by (and co-starring) Tina Fey, the film 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 Fey, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. Mean Girls has been praised as being Lohan's break-out film role.^[1]

Director Mark Waters described the movie as "Clueless meets Heathers,"^[2] the latter of which was written by his brother, Daniel Waters. Mean Girls is based 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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 Box office 5 Soundtrack 6 Sequel 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The home-schooled daughter of zoologist parents, Cady Heron is unprepared for her first day of public high school. With the help of social misfits Janis Ian and Damien, Cady learns about the various cliques, including The Plastics, an exclusive group of girls led by Queen Bee Regina George, who was once Janis's best friend. When Regina invites Cady to sit with her and the other two Plastics, gossipy Gretchen Weiners and dimwitted Karen Smith, at lunch, Janis and Damien see an opportunity to get even and convince Cady to infiltrate the Plastics so she can spy on them. Along the way, Cady learns about the "Burn Book," a top secret notebook filled with rumors, secrets and gossip about the other girls in school, and falls for Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels, who sits in front of her in calculus.

Janis asks Cady to sabotage Regina, and, after Regina outmaneuvers her by getting back together with Aaron, Cady agrees, tricking her into eating weight gain bars and turning the other Plastics against her. At the same time, Cady grows closer to Aaron by pretending to need help with math. Surprisingly, the plan works, Regina is sidelined from the Plastics, and Cady becomes the new Queen Bee. She begins to neglect Janis and Damien, and throws a party at her house which quickly spirals out of control. That night, Regina discovers Cady's deception is the reason for her sudden weight gain.

Striking back, Regina adds her own face to the Burn Book and distributes copies all over the school, causing a riot and implicating the other members of the Plastics. Later that afternoon, at an assembly to promote togetherness, Janis reveals their plan to Regina and the whole school, causing Regina to leave and get hit by a bus. Math teacher Ms. Norbury, also a victim of the Burn Book, forces Cady to join the Mathletes Math Team to make up the work she missed while purposefully getting low scores.

At the Spring Fling dance, Cady reunites with Regina, Damien, and Janis and is elected Spring Fling Queen. After distributing the pieces of her crown to her fellow classmates, she dances with Aaron and the two kiss. The end of the film shows Regina joining the school lacrosse team, Karen becoming the local weather girl, and Gretchen joining a different clique. The end of the film also shows that Regina and Cady have a mutual respect for each other, as well as Cady seeing a trio of future plastics, stating that if any freshman disrupt the peace, they know how to take care of them.

[edit] Cast

• Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, the sweet, homeschooled girl turned "Plastic".
• Rachel McAdams as Regina George, the "Plastics" leader. Very manipulative and condescending.
• Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners, the 2nd highest "Plastic", follows Regina around everywhere. Wants everyone to know her father is the inventor of Toaster Strudel.
• Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith, the 3rd "Plastic". Not the brightest crayon in the box. She claims that her breasts can predict when it's going to rain.
• Tina Fey as Ms. Sharon Norbury, the dull math teacher at the high school. Not at all in control of her classroom.
• Tim Meadows as Mr. Ron Duvall, the school principal. At times can be quite unprofessional. He also has a major crush on Mrs. Norbury.
• Jonathan Bennett as Aaron Samuels, the super cute once boyfriend of Regina George who over time he falls for Cady, which of course doesn't make Regina very happy.
• Amy Poehler as Mrs. George, the mother of Regina. Not your average mother. Dresses like a teenager and is very proud and openly flaunts her botox and boob job.
• Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian, the once best friend of Regina George, but after a Barbie doll incident with her when they were younger, she wants nothing more than to throw Regina off her "Plastics" throne. Helps convince Cady to pretend to be "Plastic".
• Daniel Franzese as Damian, the very comedic sidekick of Janis who also helps her turn Cady into a "Plastic". He even lets her borrow his beloved pink shirt.
• Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Heron, the loving mother of Cady Heron. Wants nothing more for her daughter than to make friends in high school and be socially accepted.
• Neil Flynn as Mr. Heron, the father of Cady Heron. Loves his daughter more than anything and wants her to have a rewarding high school career.

[edit] Reception

In an interview about the film, 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."^[3] Generally it was well reviewed by critics, receiving an 85% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes^[4] and a 66 ("Generally favorable reviews") on Metacritic.^[5]

[edit] Box office

The movie was declared an instant success after its opening weekend made the film $24,432,195 from 2839 theaters becoming the #1 film in America and averaging $8,606 per venue.^[6] Due to strong word of mouth, 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.^[7]

In the US, the film was the 24th highest grossing movie of 2004.^[7] The film was later nominated for the prestigious WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.^[8]

[edit] Soundtrack

Mean Girls
Soundtrack by Various artists
Released	September 21, 2004
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.

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

[edit] Sequel

A second film is currently being planned and developed by Paramount Pictures.^[9] According to the Internet Movie Database director Mark Waters will return to do the sequel, currently set for a 2009 release. The sequel has been written by Leslie Dixon, (Freaky Friday, Hairspray) and Gail Parent (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen). Both screenwriters have previously written Lindsay Lohan films. However, there has been no word on whether Lohan or any of the original cast will return yet.^[9][10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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

Preceded by Man on Fire

Box office number-one films of 2004 (USA) May 2, 2004

Succeeded by Van Helsing

v • d • e Films directed by Mark Waters The House of Yes (1997) · Head Over Heels (2001) · Freaky Friday (2003) · Mean Girls (2004) · Just Like Heaven (2005) · The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) · The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)