Mean Girls

In recent history I have been going to films multiple times. Don't know why exactly. The films were very good or I went with one person then with another (That makes me sound popular, I'm not), or I was bored and there was nothing else worth seeing.

Last Friday I went with a friend to see 'Mean Girls'. The non-teen movie. Well it is a teen movie, but it's a teen movie with a real twist. As is the habit with this type of film, stereotypes aren't relied upon to make jokes, they are leant upon so hard the stereotype is shown for what it really is, mean. That is where Mean Girls varies from the rest. It presents the stereotypes in similar circumstances, but goes further and tips them on their head.

Traditionally minor characters are 'unfortunate' in some way, unsurprisingly, due to their appearance. What Mean Girls does is introduces them, treats them the same, but by the end rewards these people with the respect they deserve as people.

Lindsay Lohan plays Cady with convincing innocence, but not slipping into cliche stupidity. Rachel McAdams as Regina, Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners  and Amanda Seyfried as Karen Smith as the three 'plastics' played up the laughs well. Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian was a fresh look at the crazy outsider with Daniel Franzese as Damien. There wasn't one of them I didn't like by the end of the film. Which says heaps because typically I can't stand any of the characters by the end.

Tina Fey, of Saturday Night Live fame, adapted the script for Mean Girls from a book called 'Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence', apparently it has helped millions of girls in America survive school. Fey also plays Math Teacher and , of course, has given herself a very good part.

Janis' comment, 'Seeing a teacher outside of school is like watching a dog walk on it's back legs.' Is one of my favourites. Also, Cady's 'She's like the Barbie I never had'.

Cady's internal monologues proved that she wasn't completely possessed and provided more comic moments. The animal-like safari scenes were amazingly precise at representing what was going on. And truely funny.

It's not necessarily a cinema flick, but I recommend watching it in whatever format suits.