Mean Girls

Mean Girls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Waters
Produced by	Lorne Michaels
Screenplay by	Tina Fey
Based on	Queen Bees and Wannabes  by Rosalind Wiseman
Starring	Lindsay Lohan Rachel McAdams Lizzy Caplan Lacey Chabert Amanda Seyfried Tina Fey
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Daryn Okada
Editing by	Wendy Greene Bricmont
Studio	SNL Studios
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 30, 2004 (2004-04-30)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million[1]
Box office	$129,042,871[1]

Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is 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 Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried (in her film debut), and Lizzy Caplan. The film was produced by Saturday Night Live (SNL) creator Lorne Michaels. Screenwriter and co-star of the film, Tina Fey, was a long-term cast member and writer for SNL. The film also features appearances from SNL cast members Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. This film marks Lohan's second collaboration with director Mark Waters, the first one being Freaky Friday (2003).

The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $129,042,871 worldwide. The film has since developed a large cult following.^[2]

Plot

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is a 16-year-old homeschooled daughter of zoologist parents (Ana Gasteyer and Neil Flynn). They have returned to the United States after a 12-year research trip in Africa, settling in Evanston, Illinois and having Cady attend a public school for the first time. New classmates Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damien (Daniel Franzese) warn Cady to avoid the school's most exclusive clique, the Plastics, who are led by queen bee Regina George (Rachel McAdams). The Plastics take an interest in Cady, however, and start to invite her to sit with them at lunch. Seeing that Cady is slowly becoming one of The Plastics, Janis hatches a plan of revenge against Regina, using Cady as the infiltrator.

Cady soon learns about Regina's "Burn Book", a notebook filled with rumors, secrets, and gossip about the other girls and some teachers. Cady also falls in love with Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), whom a jealous Regina steals back at a Halloween party. Cady continues with Janis's plan to cut off Regina's "resources", which involve separating her from Aaron; tricking her into eating nutrition bars that make her gain weight; and turning Regina's fellow Plastics – insecure rich girl Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and sweet but ditzy Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) – against her. In the process, Cady unwittingly remakes herself in Regina's image, becoming spiteful, superficial, and abandons Janis and Damian.

Cady hosts a party at her own house one weekend while her parents are away. While intended to be a small get-together, a large number of people show up. While waiting for Aaron to show up, Cady drinks too much punch before finally finding him. She explains to him how she was purposefully failing math just so she could have an excuse just to talk to him, but this only angers Aaron, saying that Cady's no better than Regina. In a moment of panic, Cady barfs on Aaron due to the excessive amount of punch she had earlier. While chasing after an infuriated Aaron, Janis and Damian show up, who are upset that Cady lied to them about not being able to attend Janis's art show that day. Cady tries to explain her motives, but Janis states that Cady has become worse than the Plastics by hiding a spiteful personality behind her cute and innocent facade.

When Regina is finally made aware of Cady's treachery, she responds by spreading around the contents of her Burn Book, quickly inciting a riot. To avoid suspicion, Regina inserts a fake libel of herself in the book in order to blame the only female students not mentioned in the book, The Plastics. Principal Ron Duvall (Tim Meadows) soon quells the riot, and ends up sending all the girls in the school to gather in the auditorium. Math teacher Ms. Sharon Norbury (Tina Fey), whom the Burn Book slandered as a drug dealer, makes the girls mentioned in the book fess up to the rumors and apologize to the other students and teachers. When Janis's turn comes, she confesses her plan to destroy Regina with Cady's help and openly mocks Regina with the support of the entire school. Pursued by an apologetic Cady, Regina storms out and gets hit by a school bus, breaking her spine.

Without any friends, shunned by Aaron, and distrusted by everyone, Cady takes full blame for the Burn Book. Her guilt soon dissolves and she returns to her old personality. As part of her punishment for lying and failing Norbury's class, she joins the Mathletes in their competition. There, while competing against an unattractive girl, Cady realizes that mocking the girl's appearance would not stop the girl from beating her. She then realizes that the best thing to do is just solve the problem in front of you and ends up winning the competition after her opponent answers incorrectly. At the Spring Fling dance, Cady is elected Queen, but declares that all her classmates are wonderful in their own way, whereupon she breaks her plastic tiara and distributes the pieces. Cady makes amends with Janis and Damian, reconciles with Aaron, and reaches a truce with the Plastics.

By the start of the new school year, the Plastics have disbanded. Regina joins the lacrosse team, Karen becomes the school weather reporter, and Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians." Aaron graduates from high school and attends Northwestern University, Janis and Kevin Gnapoor begin dating, and Cady declares that she is now normal. Regina walks past Cady and smiles, showing that they made peace with each other. Damien witnesses the new "Junior Plastics" walking by, but they are immediately hit by a bus. It turns out, however, that this was only a humorous figment of Cady's imagination.

Cast

• Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron
• Rachel McAdams as Regina George
• Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian
• Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners
• Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith
• Tina Fey as Ms. Sharon Norbury
• Tim Meadows as Principal Ron Duvall
• Jonathan Bennett as Aaron Samuels
• Daniel Franzese as Damian
• Amy Poehler as Mrs. George
• Ana Gasteyer as Betsy Heron
• Neil Flynn as Chip Heron
• Daniel DeSanto as Jason
• Rajiv Surendra as Kevin Gnapoor
• Diego Klattenhoff as Shane Oman
• Nicole Crimi as Kylie George
• Julia Chantrey as Amber D'Alessio
• David Reale as Glen Coco
• Alexandra Stapley as Taylor Wedell
• Stefanie Drummond as Bethany Byrd
• Erin Thompson as Dawn Schweitzer
• Molly Shanahan as Kristen Hadley
• Ky Pham as Trang Pak
• Danielle Nguyen as Sun Jin Dinh
• Clare Preuss as Caroline Krafft
• Olympia Lukis as Jessica Lopez
• Jan Caruana as Emma Gerber
• Michelle Hoffman as Kissing Girl

Production

Development

Tina Fey read Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes and called Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels to suggest it could be turned into a film. Michaels contacted Paramount Pictures, who purchased the rights to the book. As the book is nonfiction, Fey wrote the plot from scratch, borrowing elements from her own high school experience; for instance, Janis Ian is an amalgam of Fey herself and her "art freak" friends.^{[citation needed]} The real Janis was one of the first musical guests on the first Saturday Night Live episode, in which she sang the song At Seventeen, which can be heard playing in the background when the girls are fighting at Regina's house. Other characters bullying Caplan's character persistently call her a lesbian throughout the movie; the real Janis Ian is an out lesbian.^[3]

Casting

Lindsay Lohan first read for Regina George, but since both the casting team felt she was what they were looking for in the actress who played Cady, and Lohan considered the "mean girl" would harm her reputation, she agreed to play the lead. Rachel McAdams was cast as Regina because Fey felt McAdams being "kind and polite" made her perfect for such an evil-spirited character. Amanda Seyfried also read for Regina, and the producers instead suggested her for Karen due to Seyfried's "spacey and daffy sense of humor". Both Lacey Chabert and Daniel Franzese were the last actors tested for their roles. Lizzy Caplan was at first considered too pretty for the part of Janis, for which Fey felt a "Kelly Osbourne-like actress" was necessary, but Caplan was picked for being able to portray raw emotion. Fey wrote two roles based on fellow SNL alumni, Amy Poehler (whom Fey thought the producers would not accept for being too young) and Tim Meadows, and the cast ended up with a fourth veteran of the show, Ana Gasteyer.^[3]

Filming

Although set in Evanston, Illinois, the film was mostly shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and Malvern Collegiate Institute as well as Montclair, New Jersey at Montclair High School (New Jersey).^[4] Notable landmarks include the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall and Sherway Gardens.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $24,432,195 in 2,839 theaters in the United States, ranking #1 at the box office. By the end of its run, Mean Girls grossed $86,058,055 and $42,984,816 internationally, totaling $129,042,871 worldwide.^[1]

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a rating of 83% based on 167 reviews,^[5] and a rating of 66% ("Generally favorable reviews") on Metacritic based on 39 reviews.^[6]

The film was declared an instant success after its opening weekend made $24,432,195 from 3,339 theaters becoming the #1 film in America and averaging $8,606 per venue.^[7] 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.^[1]

Accolades

The film won and was nominated for a number of awards in 2004-05.^[8]

Cultural impact

Mariah Carey expressed several times that she's a fan of the film, using some quotes from the film in several interviews. Carey released a single, "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 revealed the song was inspired by the film itself.^[9] She then referenced the film again in 2013 during an episode of American Idol.

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 show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing."^[10] 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 me!"^[11] In 2006, Entertainment Weekly also named it the 12th best high school movie of all time, explaining: "There was a time when Lindsay Lohan was best known for her acting rather than her party-hopping. Showcasing Lindsay Lohan in arguably her best role to date, this Tina Fey-scripted film also boasts a breakout turn by Rachel McAdams as evil queen bee Regina George (Gretchen, stop trying to make 'fetch' happen! It's not going to happen!). While Mean Girls is technically a comedy, its depiction of girl-on-girl cattiness stings incredibly true." At the 2013 People's Choice Awards, Jennifer Lawrence mentioned the movie in her speech when she won "Favorite Movie Actress" ^[12]

Soundtrack

Mean Girls: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	September 21, 2004 (2004-09-21)
Genre	Rock, pop
Label	Rykodisc Virgin

Soundtrack
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	Link

Mean Girls: Music from the Motion Picture 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 (Fatboy Slim Malpaso mix)
14. "The Mathlete Rap" by Rajiv Surendra
15. "Jingle Bell Rock"

Though not included on the soundtrack, other songs heard in the film include the single "Pass That Dutch" by Missy Elliott, "Naughty Girl" by Beyoncé, "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, "Fire" by Joe Budden featuring Busta Rhymes, "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian, and "Halcyon + On + On" by Orbital and "Love's Theme" by The Love Unlimited Orchestra.

The film's orchestral score was written by Rolfe Kent and orchestrated by Tony Blondal. It featured taiko drums and a full orchestra.

Home media

Mean Girls was released on VHS and DVD 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.^[13] A Blu-ray version of the film was released on April 14, 2009.

Video game

A game for PC and Nintendo DS was released in 2009.^[14] The video game features characters specifically created for the game.

Sequel

A direct-to-video (DVD) sequel, Mean Girls 2, was aired on ABC Family on January 23, 2011, and released on DVD on February 1. The film is a stand-alone sequel, and the plot does not continue the story of the first film nor does it have the same cast, with the exception of Tim Meadows. The film is directed by Melanie Mayron and stars Meaghan Jette Martin and Jennifer Stone.

Stage musical

On January 28, 2013, Tina Fey confirmed that a musical adaption of Mean Girls is in the works. Kathy Bates will be the writer and possibly the director of the musical while 30 Rock composer and Fey's husband Jeff Richmond, will work on the music. Paramount will be also involved.^[15]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mean Girls

• 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