In honor of Victor High school’s musical this year, Mean Girls, I watched the original Mean Girls (2004) to get me into the spirit. Mean Girls was not originally a musical; the musical was produced in 2017. This movie (not a musical) is written by Tina Fey, directed by Mark Waters, and produced by Lorne Michaels.
In the movie Mean Girls there are 4 leads and a bunch of supporting characters, the leads being Regina George, Cady Heron, Gretchen Weiners, and Karen Smith called the “Plastics”.
Cady Heron, who this movie is most focused on, was played by Lindsay Lohan. Cady was a nervous girl who loved math, but throughout the film we really see the shift from innocence and impressionable to popular and influential. Regina George, played by Rachel McAddams, is THE mean girl. She is manipulative, the center of attention, and a dictator. Gretchen Weiners was Regina’s sidekick, played by Lacy Chabert. Gretchen is an anxious gossip, and easily pressured. To complete the plastics Karen Smith played by Amanda Seyfried is bubbly, clueless, and stupid. Very stupid.
Lizzy Caplan took on the role of gothic, artistic Janis Ian who was very artsy, straightforward, and blunt. Janis is a supporting character, but she is one of the most important characters.
There are also a lot of other supporting characters like Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennet), Miss. Norberry (Tina Fey), and Damien (Daniel Franzese).
I think the actors and actresses all worked very well together. Everyone had good chemistry and they seemed comfortable working together. It was very easy to watch and it had the right amount of tension.
Cady built off of Regina’s personality as we progress further into the film, we see the shift from Cady’s personality to Regina’s personality in Cady. Then we see the jealousy and similarities.
Regina and Gretchen have this sort of master-servant relationship, where Gretchen would work tirelessly so she could be Regina’s best friend. Regina never showed that back to her, and the more she pushed away, the more Greychen would try to impress.
Karen Smith was the comedic relief in the group of girls, she would just say silly things at the worst times.
Amanda Seyfried did such a good job of making the stupid comments seem unintentional, you couldn’t help but believe she was really THAT dumb.
This story is about a sixteen year old girl named Cady coming to a high school after being homeschooled her whole life, and meeting all these new people. Cady finds Janis and Damien who quickly become her friends.
Janis convinces Cady to spy on the “Plastics” (Karen, Gretchen, and Regina). Throughout the movie Cady learns that people are not always nice, and even your friends can backstab you. She learns not to change herself from who she is because she wants them to like her.
One of my favorite working pieces of this film is the transitions from shot to shot and the music they layered in behind the scenes. The camera zoomed in and out and would fade in and out. Their music choices were also great, they would have it playing in the background or to help with transitions, but I loved the use of music in this movie. I also loved how the inner thoughts of Cady would play over someone talking, making it more immersive.
One thing I would change about this movie was a missed opportunity with Regina and Cady. Both characters are leads, and only having inner dialogue from Cady was disappointing. I wish we had both views from Regina and Cady throughout the story.
Personally, I think this is a great movie overall. Coming from a 15 year old girl, I can relate to a lot of it, and I think it brings a lightheartedness to the message of bullying and self deprecation. I love the way they had a consistent love interest, and it also made the story a little bit easier to understand.
I recommend this movie to highschoolers everywhere, but it is PG-13, with a lot of foul language. I watched this with my mom and we shared a good laugh at most of the scenes. At no time did I personally feel uncomfortable, but others might! I’m not sure. Overall it has a great message and I feel it is important to watch, because we can all relate to it at one point or another.
