Mean Girls (2004)

MEAN GIRLS (2004) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel

McAdams, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Jonathan Bennett,

Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese. Based on the

book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. Screenplay by Tina Fey.

Directed by Mark Waters. Rated PG-13.

It almost has become a cliché to liken high school to a jungle.

But the analogy is apropos, and the fiercest and meanest predators in that

environment are teen-age girls.

And that is made perfectly clear in Mean Girls, a witty adaptation of Rosalind

Wiseman's book, Queen Bees and Wannabes.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) has been raised and home schooled in the African

bush by her zoologist parents. Young Cady thinks she understands about survival

of the fittest.

However, the law of the jungle takes on a significant new meaning for the

15-year-old when she enters public high school. There she comes up against the

mind games and unwritten rules that face every teen-age girl.

Produced by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels with a script by SNL co-head

writer Tina Fey, the movie uses a comic perspective to make its point in

examining the lengths girls will go to sabotage one another.

Yet, while humorously exaggerated, the movie strives to make a point: That for

young girls to expect respect from their male peers, they first have to respect

each other.

The double-dealings, psychological warfare and pranks displayed in Mean Girls

are toned down, which takes a bit of an edge off the film. However, this is

supposed to be a comedy, not Carrie.

Lohan, who kept up with Jamie Lee Curtis in last year's Freaky Friday, shows

real talent as the young girl who slowly is transformed into what she initially

despised.

Director Mark Waters and Fey do create some nice touches as they film

sequences from Cady's point of view that show the student body acting,

literally, like jungle animals.

Since Michaels produced Mean Girls, roles have been found for several SNL

performers -- past and present. Fey plays a teacher; Tim Meadows, the school's

principal; Ana Gasteyer, Cady's mother; and Amy Poehler, the mother of the

school's Queen Bee, leader of the popular girls called -- behind their backs,

of course -- the plastics.

Rachel McAdams is viperous as Regina, the leader of the plastics.

Waters, who directed Lohan in Freaky Friday, keeps the proceedings from

becoming too cartoonish.

At times, though, Mean Girls, seems to meander between outright comedy and

drama, not going too deeply into either. This is the movie's main drawback; it

can't decide if it wants to be social commentary or social satire.

By trying a bit of both it only partially succeeds. However, teen girls will

have fun with it, trying to discern whom in their school fits the characters on

screen.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He

can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at

bloomjc@yahoo.com.

Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site,

www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site,

www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4