Mean Girls (2004)

Directed by: Mark Waters | 97 minutes | comedy | Actors: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Lacey Chabert, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Franzese, Neil Flynn, Jonathan Bennett, Amanda Seyfried, Rajiv Surendra

Girls are mean, that’s a fact. It’s also a fact that guys never quite understand where that meanness comes from and exactly how it works. The fact that boys are not curious about that is because girls mainly indulge in that meanness on each other. For anyone who still wants to understand the phenomenon (and in the meantime wants to laugh a lot) there is the comedy ‘Mean Girls’.

In ‘Mean Girls’ we meet Cady Heron, a spontaneous and natural 16-year-old, who spent her childhood in Africa. In Africa she was taught by her parents, but back in America she has to go to school like every 16-year-old. There she joins the Plastics, a group of popular girls led by professional bitch Regina George. But when Cady has a crush on Regina’s ex Aaron, Regina turns on her. The result is an impressive bullying.

The charm of ‘Mean Girls’ is not in the story or the moral. They are very thin and far from original. You can see from afar that Cady will eventually bully himself and gradually become a bully. This applies even more to the moral, which says that bullying is not good, but being nice to each other is.

The fact that ‘Mean Girls’ transcends everyday high school comedy is mainly due to the humor. Not only is it often sharp, original, unexpected and often a bit irreverent. The perfect alternation of verbal and physical, of rude and subtle, of smart and imposing, also contributes to the quality of the humor. You wouldn’t expect anything else with a screenwriter like Tina Fey (’30 Rock’, ‘Saturday Night Live’).

Another strong point is the casting. All talented actresses, perfectly cast for their roles. We see a fresh Lindsay Lohan (Cady) convincingly change from cutie to bully and back again. Rachel McAdams is well cast in the role of Regina George, a beautiful girl with the character of a coyote. We also see the always reliable Amanda Seyfried, in the role of cheerful dumb Karen Smith.

Add the energetic direction of Mark Waters and some nice music to this, and you understand that ‘Mean Girls’ guarantees a fun movie night. Where you still don’t quite understand why girls are mean. But this movie can’t help that.