Mean Girls (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Extremely funny, very true to life and featuring a great cast
Disadvantages:	Makes you realise how mean us girls can really be !  (not me obv .  .  . )

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

BACKGROUND:
Girls are a precarious lot. One day you are friends, the next you're not. One minute you love each other, the next you don't. Whilst boys solve their problems with a quick burst of violence followed by a handshake, with girls, everything is done covertly and in such a way that even the meanest girl can appear sweeter than sugar and genial in the eyes of all but her terrorised victim.

Cliques, gangs and outcasts are unfortunately common fixtures of most schools and bullying is something that many girls have suffered at the hands of their so-called friends and enemies alike. This undercover girl-against-girl war is the scenario that is at the forefront of this plot and that is addressed overtly and clearly in the film 'Mean Girls'. This is the reason why I think that this film, as well as being hilarious and pure entertainment, is actually a very poignant film and one which a lot of girls will identify with.

When I first saw the adverts for 'Mean Girls' I wasn't 100% convinced. OK, so it looked mildly funny and it was clearly my usual sort of film but the clips that I saw over and over seemed to be a bit try-hard in their humour and I wondered whether this film would stand up to its claims and rave reviews. However, my girlies all wanted to see the film so I went along, vaguely interested but truthfully not too excited at the prospect of the film.

The clips, however, I quickly realised did not do the film justice. The film works on many levels that other chick flicks don't and is a genuinely hilarious, greatly entertaining film about jealousy, friendship and the unspoken, all-important rules of Girl World…

THE PLOT-
Cady has spent all her life being home-schooled and travelling in Africa with her zoologist parents. That is, all her life until the year she turns sixteen when her parents decide to send her off to a normal, American high school where she is forced to interact with people her own age. Cady suddenly finds herself a fish out of water and realises that, if she is to stand a chance, she must quickly learn the rules of 'Girl World'; a place were bitchiness is an art form and backstabbing a sport. She may have embraced endangered species' and learned the laws of the wild, but Cady soon realises that teenage girls are a far more dangerous breed.

Amongst the many groups and cliques that Cady encounters, she finds friends in outcasts Janis and Damien; a cynical, sarcastic tomboy and an upbeat gay guy, respectively. Cady, however, is quickly whipped away from these friends by Regina, the leader of the most popular group in the school, The Plastics, who offers Cady the opportunity to sit with the girls for an entire week; a proposal that a reluctant Cady is encouraged to take up by Janis, who sees this as an opportunity to spy on her sworn enemies and have a little fun at their expense.

The fun, however, soon takes a sinister turn as Cady is sucked in to the world of the Mean Girls and finds herself becoming increasingly one of them. After she fall for Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron, the girls declare war in the back-stabbing, no-holds-barred way that only teenage girls can, drawing the entire female population of the school in to their battle.

Yes, that's right people, there's gonna be a girl fight…

CAST (MAIN CHARACTERS)-
- LINDSAY LOHAN, the twenty year old infamous actress and star of 'The Parent Trap' and 'Freaky Friday', plays main character, Cady Heron.

- RACHEL MCADAMS, who also stars in 'The Wedding Crashers' and 'The Notebook', plays Queen Bee Regina George.

- Twenty four year old accomplished actress and star of 'Party of Five' and 'Not Another Teen Movie', LACEY CHABERT, plays second-Plastic-in-waiting, Gretchen Wieners.

- AMANDA SEYFRIED, a Pennsylvanian-born young actress who has appeared in, amongst others, the TV series 'Veronica Mars', plays cute and ditzy Plastic Karen Smith.

- LIZZY CAPLAN, who is mainly famous for her TV work including roles in 'Freaks and Greeks' and 'Tru Calling' (and is in fact much more glamorous than her on-screen character), plays free spirit Janis Ian.

- Lizzy's hilarious gay best friend, Damian, is played by twenty eight year old actor DANIEL FRANZESE, who has so far played only minor roles in the world of film and TV prior to this film.

- Twenty five year old JONATHAN BENNETT, who has appeared in 'Smallville' and 'Veronica Mars' and is currently filming 'The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning', stars as the much desired Aaron Samuels.

- Writer, actress and comedian TINA FEY, who was the first female head writer for 'Saturday Night Live', stars in this film as Cady's hard working maths teacher, Ms Norbury.

WHAT I LIKED-
The main thing that I loved about this film is the characters. 'Mean Girls' presents a fabulously diverse mix of characters, all played by brilliant actors and actresses who are very believable and convincing in their roles. Each and every character adds something to the film with their uniqueness and I didn't feel that any character lacked depth or conviction, which can sometimes happen in films, especially in those of this genre. What is also brilliant about the characterisation in this film is that, as well as the variety of personalities offered in the movie, the characters are very realistic and humorous because of the character traits, both favourable and not, that I am sure many viewers will recognise in each character, if not in themselves then certainly in someone they know.

Cady is great as the glue that holds the whole thing together and Lindsay plays her brilliantly, totally pulling off the jungle-girl-turned-bitch persona, but I think that the stars of the movie are in fact the oh so shiny Plastics, who are all absolutely hilarious in their own unique ways. I think that my favourite character overall is the totally underrated Karen. Karen manages to juggle naïve sluttiness with a butter wouldn't melt attitude which makes her absolutely hilarious and extremely enjoyable to watch. Her ditzy charm reminds me of Tara Reid in 'Josie and The Pussycats', with her wide-eyed innocence and cutesy little girl voice.

What I like about Karen is that she is, well, the most likeable character in the film; the only one who doesn't go out of her way to cause pain to others and the one girl without a vindictive bone in her body. Karen lives in her own little world and provides many of my favourite quotes of the movie, including one alluding to her weather forecasting skills (I was going to include a 'top quotes' section but decided against it as I didn't want to give the best bits away!)

As well as the adorable ditz that is Karen, I also absolutely love the character of Gretchen. Gretchen is a total stress-head and try-hard who is easily manipulated and lives for the rules of Girl World. She is like the typical right hand man (or woman) that is seen running around after every Queen Bee, hanging on to their every word and hoping to one day absorb some of that much longed for popularity themselves. The twist, however, is that Gretchen, despite her subservient behaviour towards both boys and Regina, has a bitterness growing inside here that it takes little effort for Cady to ignite, with hilarious consequences…

Of course now, I could not mention the Plastics or, indeed, the best qualities of this superb comedy, without mentioning the Mean Girl herself - Regina George. Regina is not just a gem in her own right, with her saccharine sweet bitchiness and brainless enforcing of rules such as wearing pink on a Wednesday and only wearing your hair up once a week, but her comic greatness extends to her bizarre white trash family, which includes a clueless mother who is desperate to cling on to her youth at all costs and a little sister who overtly copies raunchy dance routines on MTV (a humorous dig, I think, at the female examples generated via the half naked music videos predominant today).

Damien also adds humour with his witty one-liners and sarcasm and Tina Fey shines as harassed maths teacher, Ms Norbury, who, despite her mild and scatty ways, is actually more clued up than she lets on and is more than a match for those Mean Girls.

Another thing that I liked about this film is that, as I alluded to earlier, it offers the best of both worlds; humour and poignancy; something that many films fail to master. Fey had an inspirational and successful idea in the conception of this film, deciding to make a very funny film based on a very serious book. She wanted to reflect on the pain and torture that many girls face in adolescence and approached Rosalind Wiseman, the author of New York Times Bestseller 'Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence', a book which reflected on the theme in a very sombre way, based on anecdotes and quotes from real life girls.

Fey felt that this book was very serious but also funny as it was something that so many girls had experience of and could relate to, and so bizarre the way that girls treated each other, so she decided to play on this humour, and, ta da… 'Mean Girls' was born! The benefit of this approach is that, as it unites two extremes and viewpoints, from two very talented people, both humour and poignancy remain in tact and the result is a film that makes you think but that also makes you laugh… and what could be better than that? The combination of these two extremes is particularly helpful as it means that through the humour young girls can relate to the messages; seeing such malicious behaviour poked fun at on screen may make people realise how pointless and bizarre it is. Another strength of the film is that nothing is sugar coated; the film portrays real girls at their worst and does not shy away from reality.

Another advantage of this film is that the humour in the movie is as diverse and clever as the characters; slapstick humour (for instance, Cady's 'actual vomit' and Regina's mum's boobs ) nestles alongside subtle jokes (such as Regina's illogical dieting and Cady's naivety towards the nonsensical rules of Girls World) which makes for a varied and comical film whatever your sense of humour.

A further strength of this film that makes it stand out from other chick flicks is its relative unpredictability. It is unrealistic and untrue to say that the film is completely unpredictable as the film does utilise some of the standard , familiar conventions of the chick flick genre - for instance, you just know that the girl, as always, will overcome every obstacle to get her guy in the end; that the 'baddies' will get their comeuppance in the end; and that the film will end with a feel-good message - however, whilst most teen films and chick flicks rely on the same old stories, twists and characters, this is a smart , refreshing comedy that will never leave you bored and, OK, although you will probably anticipate the ending of the film you will certainly enjoy the journey there, and may even be surprised by the twists on the way.

WHAT I DISLIKED-
I have to say that there is not a lot that I can say in criticism of this film, as any perceived shortcomings of the film will not be enough to outweigh its many advantages. However, in the interest of providing a thorough review, I will elaborate on what I felt to be some of the relative weaknesses of the film.

I suppose one disadvantage of this film is that, like all films, it probably has a certain target audience. This is just speculation but I am going to say, on a hunch, that this film is probably best for the girls. However, an advantage of this film is that, as the humour is so clever, I wouldn't say that, like most teen/chick flicks it was just for girls, as you may expect. Whilst men may not get some of the familiarity and humour of the film as they may not have experienced directly such girly and covert snideness, I am sure that some of the humour will still appeal to them (as will the cast, no doubt) and, if nothing else, it will surely be interesting for them to see how the other half live!

Another thing that I felt was a slight weakness of the film is that some of the scenes seemed a bit unrealistic and some of the humour slightly forced. However, one of these particular scenes was when Regina tells Cady she is really pretty and then when Cady says thank you Regina answers, "so you agree? You think you're really pretty?" I thought that this was a bit unrealistic and exaggerated behaviour; however, I watched an interview with the writer and, when she was asked which scenes were inspired from her real life experiences, this was one of the scenes that she mentioned! So that's me told! Maybe it is just because of having never attended an American high school that I have never really felt the full force of a Mean Girl?

However, that said, there does seem to be some element of predictability and convenience in the film and some use of cliché. One instance of this is the convenient situation that Cady finds herself in on her second day at school when she, seemingly within minutes, makes best friends with Janis and Damien, then the Plastics, who apparently never invite anyone to sit with them invite Cady to join them! Not only would it be unusual to make close friends that quickly but to have two groups fighting over you seems a bit unrealistic, especially when you go on to consider that one of these groups is the Plastics. If it is true that the Plastics never invite people to join them, which seems to be the case as there are only three members, why would they then conveniently choose Cady, who is clearly lacking in 'style' and confidence and appears to embody all that they mock? True, they may have just seen her 'pretty girl' potential, but surely there are lots of other pretty girls floating around the school?

Also, some of the characters seem a bit convenient and cliched, such as the traditional gay best friend, the indie, free spirit (who is the favoured antithesis of the popular airhead) and the Plastic collection (has anyone ever noticed how there's always the bright blonde, the brunette and the something else girl in these kind of films?) I also feel that Cady's friendship with Janis and Damien seems a bit fickle; the three barely ever speak except to poke fun at the Plastics, yet Janis is seen as the 'good' girl and Regina the 'bad', despite the fact that they are both as mean as each other. I felt that this was again very convenient and the writer simply needed a 'goody' and 'baddy', so that Cady can be misled by the 'baddy' before being shown the error of her ways. I am not really fond of Janis's character as I feel that her faults are airbrushed over and she is presented as virtuous just because she is 'unique' and knows that she acts mean.

On the whole, however, I am just picking faults and little annoyances in an otherwise entertaining, credible and enjoyable film and none of these 'disadvantages' would stop me from wanting to watch this film again.

DVD EXTRAS-

- COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR MARK WATERS, SCREENPLAY WRITER AND ACTRESS TINA FEY AND PRODUCER LORNE MICHAELS - basically you can watch the film with a running commentary from those involved. I'm afraid I can't tell you how interesting this as I have never done it because I personally feel it would be quite annoying to have people interrupting the film all the time when I'm trying to watch, but I'm sure it would be very interesting if you want to know about the making of the film in detail.

- 3 FEATURETTES:
ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE - A 25 minute feature where the actresses and insiders from the film discuss the ideas from the film about why girls hate other girls; give insight in to some of the characters and the actresses behind them; and elaborate on how the film came about. Some interesting thoughts accompanied by fun clips from the film.
THE POLITICS OF GIRL WORLD - A ten minute feature which again examines the insane rules that all girls live by, whether they know it or not! Some poignant thoughts by Rosalind Wiseman.
PLASTIC FASHION - Mary Jane Fort, the costume designer from the film, takes us in to the 'Mean Girls' wardrobe and explains the surprisingly complicated process behind deciding who wears what and why. A ten minute fun and interesting feature which examines in detail the outfits from the film.

- WORD VOMIT - Some outtakes from the film. A bit disappointing really as it is basically a lot of giggling and cries of, "Sorry, can I do that again?"

- SO FETCH - DELETED SCENES WITH COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR MARK WATERS AND SCREENPLAY WRITER TINA FEY - nine deleted scenes that didn't quite make the film. A lot of funny ones here, shame they were cut! You can choose to watch with or without commentary and also with or without subtitles, depending on your preference.

- 3 INTERSTITIALS: Three mini trailers used to advertise the film; Frenemies, New Girl and P.S.A. P.S.A is particularly good as it is basically a new scene in itself and doesn't just use clips from the film.

- THEATRICAL TRAILER - another chance to see the full trailer for the film.

- WIDESCREEN VERSION (ENHANCHED FOR 16:9 TVS) - erm, well this is one is pretty self-explanatory really!

RECOMENDED FOR... Girls of all ages!

WATCH WHEN... You need a laugh or are feeling unpopular and struggling to fit in, this will reassure you you're not the only one.

WATCH IF YOU LIKED… 'Clueless', 'Heathers', 'Freaky Friday'.

IF IT WERE FOOD IT WOULD BE... Fairy cakes; fun, light and girly.

IF IT WERE A COLOUR IT WOULD BE... Cerise; bright and vivid with deeper elements and a heavy touch of girliness.

IF IT WERE A SEASON IT WOULD BE... Summer; bright, memorable and puts a smile on your face (plus makes you glad you're not at school!)

FUN FACTS-
1. Lindsay was initially meant to play the role of Regina before she decided that she didn't want viewers to confuse her with her character and think that she wasn't nice.

2. Youthful Rachel McAdams plays a fifteen year old in the film yet is actually 30 in real life, ten years older than her co-star Lindsay Lohan (and just six years younger than her 'teacher', Tina Fey)!

3. Talented Tina Fey, who plays the part of Ms Norbury perfectly in the film 'Mean Girls', also wrote the script for this film.

4. If you enjoyed Rachel McAdams' (Regina) performance in this film you may be pleased to hear that she is currently in talks to star in the upcoming film production of the 'The Time Traveler's Wife', based on the bestselling novel of 2003 written by Audrey Niffenegger.

5. This film, which has a 12 rating, had to have certain scenes cut from it before it could go to release, as it was previously classed as an R rating in the US (meaning it would be unsuitable for those under the age of 17, probably slashing its intended target audience in half!).

6. If you want to see some fun 'Mean Girls' related stuff then go to http://www.meangirls.com/indexflash.html. This is a fab 'Mean Girls' site which lets you watch a trailer for the film; see an exclusive clip from the movie; access movie info, cast biographies and a fun photo gallery; and watch interviews with the cast (including the chance to see Lindsay Lohan answering pertinent questions such as whether she asks her friends before buying a skirt and what special ability she would have if she could choose), amongst many, many more fabulous features!

MARKS OUT OF 10 FOR:
PLOT- 10
CHARACTERS- 10
COMEDY VALUE- 10
UNPREDICTABILITY- 6
OVERALL FILM- 10
EXTRAS- 10 (they've really put in the work here and tell you pretty much everything you could possibly ask about the making of the film I suspect!)

RECOMMENDED? - Yes, definitely!