Mean Girls / Clueless (Box Set) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Good acting, great plot .
Disadvantages:	Not really intelligent !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Before I start, I'd like to point out that I really don't like films aimed at teenage girls, usually. I usually avoid them like the plague, but I accidentally watched Mean Girls and loved it! So bear in mind that this review was written by someone who would usually cast a sceptical eye over chick-flicks...

I bought this DVD because I saw Mean Girls at the cinema (because it was on at the right time and there was nothing else left to see, actually!) and I really enjoyed it. At the time, I wasn't really looking for a DVD when I went out, but I saw this bright pink box and it really stood out, so I thought, what the heck, it's only £2 more than Mean Girls (which I wanted...) for the both films, so I bought the box set.

Anyway, I don't regret it because I love the film Clueless now, as well. I know, I'm sad!

♥ The Packaging

The packing (as you can see) is a bright pink box, housing both of the DVDs within it. Even though I don't really like the colour pink, I was drawn to it, and even though I was going to buy Mean Girls, I was thinking of buying it later, online.
The packaging was so eye-catching that I decided to buy them both then.

♥ Mean Girls - Plot & Setting

The film was released in 2004.
Out of the 2 films, I'd say that Mean Girls was my favourite, mostly because of the simplicity of the plot and the way the presence of the actors/actresses adds to the plot to make it something truely spectacular.
Cady Heron is a typical teenage girl except for one thing - she's never been to high school. She was raised in Africa, because her parents are both zoologists, but she has to move to America with them after they get jobs there.
She soon finds out that High School is a different sort of jungle, and is soon adopted by Damian and Janis, who show her all the important things that she needs to know - how to get out of lessons and where to sit in the cafeteria.
Janis describes her table as 'the greatest people you will ever meet' but we soon find out that 'the plastics' (as they are known in the film) call them 'art freaks'.
Anyway, having assessed Cady and decided she was a good match for 'the plastics', Regina, who is the head of 'the plastics' decides to try and recruit her. In the beginning, Janis thinks it's a great idea and her and Cady have a plan the mess up 'the plastics' from the inside.
However Cady soon gets carried away by the glamourous life of the 'popular' crowd and starts to ignore Cady.
The sub-plot to this is the boy, obviously. Cady has a crush on Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron, and 'the plastics' play mind-games with her to make her thing Regina is really okay with it, but Regina steals him back off Cady. However, Aaron doesn't seem as keen and everything turns out alright in the end, with Regina realising her true colours (and getting hit by a bus) and becoming nicer to everyone, and Cady gets the boy...and so does Janis, miraculously.

♥ Mean Girls - Opinion

In my opinion the acting in this is a bit limited, as Cady doesn't really seem to have that much of a different personality to Lindsay Lohan herself. However, the supporting cast do help to bring a bit of interest to the plot and I would definatly recommend you keep your eye on Rachel McAdams (Regina) and Johnathan Bennet (Aaron), who both really stood out to me while watching the film.
The plot of this film is a good one, and quite original. I would have to say that I've never really seen anything like it in a chick-flick.
I like the way the film is directed, also. There are little section added in, where we see things as Cady predicts or hopes, not as they really happen (like in Ally McBeal...) first, before she sees them in real life. The visions we see are usually of the students acting the way that animals in the jungle. A particularly memorable one for me is of when Regina is all over Aaron and we see Cady leap on her and try and rip her to shreds, before returning to real life where Cady replies meekly 'Your hair looks good pushed back' and then sits down.
My favourite part of this film would have to be the halloween party where we're told that in 'Girlworld' halloween is an excuse for girls to dress like sluts in skimpy lingerie and animal ears, and Cady shows up as a demon bride looking completely terrible.
To be quite honest I don't really have anything negative to say about this film, because I love it...

My favourite quote:
Betsy Heron: Where's Cady?
Chip Heron: She went out.
Betsy Heron: She's grounded.
Chip Heron: [surprised] Are they not suppose to be let out when they're grounded?

♥ Clueless - Plot & Setting

The film was released in 1995.
Cher is a beautiful, popular, gorgeous, and slightly superficial high school student. Cher Horowitz and her friend Dionne, who are 2 of the most popular sophomores in school, play matchmaker for their teachers. Everything is going great for these 2 until Cher's nerdy ex-step-brother (are you still with me?) appears on the scene, along with Tai. Cher 'adopts' Tai, who is a transfer student, and Cher and Dee, inspired by their past sucesses, decide to perform a make-over on her, with several things ending up going wrong (as things do in these films...), but in the end Cher realises that it's her that needs the makeover, in a spiritual way.
If you've seen the TV show which was based on the film, and you think you know it all, then you're probably wrong because the film and the TV show share little in common. I would say that the film is a lot better, mostly because of Alicia Silverstone. The Cher in the TV show is a little unbelievable.
The main problem with the film is that because of the age, the whole 'teen diva' thing is rather old now and we've seen it all before. However, as I've already said this film is a classic, so it's well worth watching even if you hate those films!

♥ Clueless - Opinion

I like the acting in this film, and having known where all the actors have gone from this film, I can say that I think all of them are very talented, although some of them seem to have vanished from the face of the planet.
Alicia Silverstone (Cher) is now something of a legend, in a way, as everyone knows who she is, although it's more of a cult thing. In this film she brings what would be an unbelievable character to live amazingly. The supporting actors all contribute to the way to film pans out and I think the casting director did a really great job of getting everyone in the right places!
However the biggest success story of this film has to be Brittany Murphey, who seems to be everywhere these days. She's brilliant as the quirky, stupid Tai, and deserves every success she's got.
I don't really have much to say about this film as it's directed in much the same way as a lot of the films from the mid 90s. It's a bit blander than Mean Girls in that it has no surprising effects or flashbacks (that I've noticed...).
My favourite thing about this film is the way it has it's own language. Apart from the like, totally predictable cheerleader language, Cher and Dee have their own words for attractive girls (Betties), attractive boys (Baldwins), annoying geeks (Barneys) and even a new word for getting angry - going postal!

My favourite quote:
Cher: [seeking a match for her teacher] Unfortunately, There was a major babe drought at my school. The evil trolls from the math department were actually married and in the grand tradition of P.E. teachers, Ms. Stoger seemed to be same-sex oriented.

♥ DVD extras?

Mean Girls:
Audio commentary from director Mark Waters, producer Lorne Michaels and screenwriter Tina Fey
'So Fetch': deleted scenes
'Word Vomit': blooper reel
'Only The Strong Survive' featurette
'The Politics Of Girl World' featurette
'Plastic Fashion' featurette
Theatrical trailer

Clueless:
Theatrical trailer
Teaser trailer

I usually tend to avoid watching these DVD extras, but the ones on Mean Girls are incredibly funny and well worth watching, if you've got the time.

♥ My Experiences

As I've said, I love both of these films, even though I didn't really expect that I would, so everyone who thinks that they can't really enjoy a 'chick-flick' should watch these films and then re-evaluate their opinion!
I'd definatly recommend both of these to those who want something easy to watch, either as a pick-me-up film (which is generally what I watch them for!) or when they're ill and need something to divert their attention.
Both of these films are truly fictional, as I have several American friends who say that High School was and is not like this at all, which is one of my main gripes with the film. They're not exactly realistic but the stereotypes make me laugh and I find myself lost in watching it, no matter how boring you might find the storylines.
The older generation might not get the modern references in these films, but as I've said, Clueless isn't exactly the newest film and they're both quite easy-to-watch so they're perfect for anyone who likes this type of film, and the fact that (in my opinion) both among the best films in this genre should give people who aren't exactly fans of chick-flicks a reason to watch them too.
I bought these films for £17.98 in my local Tescos.

http://www.meangirlsmovie.com/ - Certificate 12
Amazon - £5.97
http://www.cluelessondvd.com/ - Certificate 12
Amazon - £6.97

I've found the box set on www.play.com for £9.99 (annoyed about this!!).