Mean Girls DVD 2004, Paramount Pictures: 12 Rating, 93mins

The Story:

Mean Girls is based on a book called Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, it tackles the issues of bullying in high school.

15 years Cady Herron is about to start her first day of school, yes that's right she has never been to school before. Up until now Cady was raised in Africa and home schooled by her parents.
For Cady everything is new but luckily she befriends Janice and Damian 'The art Freaks' and they happily introduce her to the different sub groups at high school; Freshman, JV Jocks, Asian Nerds, Peps, Cool Asians, varsity Jocks, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Girls who eat their feeling, Girls who don't eat anything, Sexual active band geeks and The Plastics.
They warn Cady that The Plastics are bad news and that she should steer clear of them, but when Regina and her friends Gretchen & Karen ask Cady to join their group Janice sees it as a fun game and encourages Cady to report back to her an what they are saying etc.
The Plastics welcome Cady with open arms and set about making her one of them, they introduce her to the 'Burn Book' a book created to bitch about other girls in school, they stick in pictures of the girls and write comments next to them. Cady knows this is wrong but can't help joining in. All is going well until Cady announces that she fancies Aaron Samuel's, she is told to lay off as he is Regina's ex boyfriend, Regina then takes Aaron back after saying that she is over him.
Cady, Janice & Damian decide to take their plan a step further and plan to sabotage Regina and get revenge, they start by feeding her fatty food and telling her it will help her loose weight, they turn her followers against her, tell Aaron she has been cheating on him, and rig the Summer Prom Queen nominations.
But their plan backfires on them when Cady starts to take over as the next Regina, will they be able to stop it before things go to far?

My Opinion:
I really enjoyed this film, it is a little more extreme than real life but you are still able to relate the important issues to your own school experiences.
Watching this film I was able to remember which girls were The Plastics and who were The Art Freaks etc, I could also relate to the feelings of being bullied and picked on but also the longing to be like them, as they appear to have everything.
In the story they show that things aren't always, as they seem and that it is better to be yourself than be something that your not just because you think that is what you should be.
I think it has been very cleverly written, combining a serious subject with subtle humour. This film is great for girls of all ages but in particular teenagers, I ink it is hopeful and uplifting.

Actors & Characters:

The New Girl:
Cady Herron: Cady is the new girl who has never been to high school before she is used and abused by two sets of friends 'The Art Freaks' and 'The Plastics'. Cady uses her experiences in a positive light at the end of the movie and it able to be true to her self.
Cady is played by Lindsey Lohan, who shot to fame as in her role playing twins in Parent Trap in 1998. She is now big star but has remained to be a good role model for young girls.

The Plastics:
The Plastic's are the most popular girls in school, they are rich, slim, pretty they have great style and everyone wants to be like them. They are also bitchy and mean to those who aren't in their gang. They decide to try and make Cady one of them.

Regina: Regina George is the Queen Bee, she makes the rules and tells the others what to do, she is the owner and creator of the Burn Book. Throughout the film Regina has he ups and downs (In more ways than one).
Rachel McAdams who played Regina went on to star in the weepy film The Notebook played Regina.

Gretchen: Gretchen Weiner is a sheep that follows Regina around all the time, deep down she wants to be her own person but she can't because Regina won't let her.
Lacey Chabert played the character of Gretchen you may remember her from Party of Five.

Karen: Karen Smith is also a sheep that follows Regina around; she is also not very bright and doesn't get what is going on a lot of the time.
Amanda Seyfried played the part of dippy Karen convincingly after auditioning for both the roles of Regina and Cady.

Art Freaks:
The ark Freaks are people who don't care what people think of them, because they have each other, they take Cady under their wing and genuinely like her.

Janice: Janice used to be a plastic and is now bitter at Regina, she known as an Art Freak as she is an individual.
Lizzie Caplan played the role of Janice and has gone on to appear in various American TV Series.

Damian: Damian is 'Too gay to function' is Janice's right arm man; he brings a great sense of comedy to the movie.
Daniel Franzese played the role of Damian he is also a musical theatre performer.

Man Candy:
The man in school that all the girls fancy, he takes your breath away and makes your heart beat go faster and faster.

Aaron: Cady fancies Aaron but he is of limits because he is Regina's ex boyfriend, but Regina gets him back so Cady splits them up, but then he still doesn't want Cady - it's all very confusing.
The gorgeous Jonathan Bennett played the role of Aaron and has since gone on to appear in TV series Small Ville.

The Teachers and Parents:
Various American comedy actors who help bring the humour to the movie play the teachers and the parents in this movie including;

Tina Frey who plays the character of Ms Norbury but also wrote the movie, Ms Norbury is the sensitive teacher who tries to bring the girls together.
Tina is best known for her work on Saturday Night live.

From her work on Saturday Night Live she chose fellow comedic actors to join her in Mean girls casting Tim Meadows as Mr Duvall, Amy Poehler as Mrs George and Anna Gasteyer as Cady's mum.

Mark Walters who also directed Freaky Friday in 2003 starring Lindsey Lohan directed this film; it really is about who you know in this business.

Special Features:

Go Fetch! : Nine deleted scenes from the movie.

Interestrials: Frienimies trailer, New Girl trailer, PSA plastics trailer.

Theatrical trailer

Feturettes:

Only the strong survive - screenwriter, director, producer and actors give their opinion on the film. Talking about why girls are mean.

The politics of girl world - Rosalind Wiseman author of Queen Bees and Wannabes the book that inspired this film talks about why she wrote the book. She explains that the book is aimed at parents to help them understand what their child is going through at high school. She also runs The Empower Programme for young people going around schools explaining the route causes of violence.

Plastic Fashion - Mary Jane Fort, Costume Designer for Mean girls talks about how the fashion helps to bring out the character.
This is very interesting and she explains how she researched outfits and that there are many changes because it is set over a school year.

Bloopers - you get to see the actors messing up.

Where can I buy it?:

On sale at Amazon New For £4.97 and New and Used from £2.07 bargain!