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Before she transformed into the world's tabloid darling (for all the wrong
reasons), Lindsay Lohan was one of cinema's hottest properties. Sure, many
are labelled with the sometimes unshakable tag of "Hot Prospect" but the
freckly redhead actually had some talent working in partnership with her
stunning looks. Mean Girls is widely seen as her breakthrough role
and should definitely not be dismissed as a bubblegum chick flick. In fact,
Tina Fey's (a stalwart of Saturday Night Live) impressive script describes how
high school social cliques in a typical Midwestern town operate in an
extremely stereotyped (but very accurate) manner, resulting in an almost
ethnographic film. Fey, who also stars as one of Cady Heron's (Lohan)
teachers, adapted Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes book so impressively that several educational institutions have been heavily
influenced by the film's truthfulness. Even though the whole piece
portrays bullying etc. in a largely light-hearted manner, it is commonly
used as a template for discussion in schools in a similar way to how the Big
Brother phenomenon is used in psychology departments across the globe.
Rachel McAdams' Regina George is the sixteen-year-old version of Alec
Baldwin's Blake from Glengarry Glen Ross. The true bitch of the film
is the major opposition to "regulation hottie" Cady settling into her new
school since moving from the home-schooled days of the African bush. McAdams
does an incredible snobby job along with her lesser-evil Plastics clique
members, but their task becomes easier depending on how an individual views
Lohan in reality - a finicky superstar persona translates into a good-girl
character more often than not. However, if you detest Lohan's wacky ways in
reality, you will probably welcome the ruthlessness she receives. In
addition, along with her butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth role in
Wedding Crashers, McAdams exhibits a fine range of good and evil.
Gretchen and Karen (Lacey Chabert and Amanda Seyfried) are also gold in
their "So fetch!" and ditzy ways as Regina's sidekicks. However, Jonathan Bennett is poor in his teen heartthrob role which is the main
cause of hostility between Cady and Regina. One never fully believes he
could be the reason for constant arguments, even if these squabbles are
ridiculously immature. Cady's allies in this uneasy world, Daniel Franzese's
Damian and Lizzy Caplan's Janis, may be the outcasts, but the pair is the
constant sources of comic relief and epicentre of the voice of reason in the
film.
Chaperones to the young and talented cast include SNL stars Amy Poehler in a
nice breast-implanted housewife turn, Tim Meadows as the consistently droll
Principal Duvall and Ana Gasteyer as Cady's mother. Fey's script is wittier
than films such as Clueless, and is obviously more modern.
Overall it's a sociological achievement with legitimate laughs and a
welcome avoidance of cliché - Cady's house does host a party when her parents go away but it's not trashed. Mean Girls is a surprise
amongst the customary dumbness of teenage flicks, making for a close-to-home
and authentic ride.
The extras
The only commentary on the disc featuring the trio of director Mark Waters,
Tina Fey and producer Lorne Michaels is surprisingly informative. The trend
starts even before the film commences as Waters states how he lobbied for
the unheard-for-fourteen-years Paramount music to be played accompanying the
logo before the feature presentation begins. Three featurettes fully achieve
what they set out to do: "Plastic Fashion" is self-explanatory as costume
designers go through the wardrobe of the characters, "Only the Strong
Survive" is a 25 minute basic Making Of with insight from nearly everyone
prominent in the film's production process, and "The Politics of Girl World"
is ten minutes with the author of the original source material. Rosalind
Wiseman talks about how her Empower Programme has transmuted because of the
stance of the film on bullying and ill-treatment in high schools. "Word
Vomit" is a host of hilarious outtakes which makes a change for a 'teen'
film. "So Fetch" consists of nine deleted scenes with optional commentary from Fey and Waters. None would be misplaced in the finished film but the filmmakers
have done a decent job with pacing anyhow. Three humorous interstitials and
a theatrical trailer round off the good package which doesn't quite live up
to the 'Special Collector's Edition' name of the DVD.
The summary
It may be celebrity behaviour shrunk down to the microcosm of the high
school but Mean Girls demonstrates how the nerd from outside the box
is sometimes more exciting than the queen bee.
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