A friend suggested my very first review for a picture be of the 2004 film, Mean Girls. And to be quite honest, I could see why. Hence, I'm doing the review right now. Giggity.
Gonna make me crane my fucking neck trying to read the title.
Ahh, Lindsay Lohan!
Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, follows Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan)'s first experiences in an American setting after she moves in from Africa. When she enters North Shore High School, however, she does not find much of a difference between the jungle and the halls. Just as there's a hierarchy in species in the wild, the high school revolves on a hierarchy of cliques and social circles. At the tippy-top of the food chain are the Plastics, led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams).
Before I delve into the review of the content of the movie, I'll give a bit of an understanding in where I'm coming from watching this movie.
This movie came out when I was in middle school. Had I watched it at that time, I would've probably used the content of the movie as a basis on my current attitude towards people in general. However, I didn't. I was a middle school boy, I wanted testosterone fueled pictures like Bad Boys II (Bay, 2004) and Freddy vs. Jason (Yu, 2003), regardless of the quality of the product itself. Maybe it's the fact that kids were young and what not, but I was surprised (close to appalled) by the fact that after seeing the movie, most everyone in my school had wanted to be like someone in the movie, even though it hits me as sort of anti-clique. When somebody heard that I was from a country in Africa, she referred to me as 'Africa' from that point on, associating me with that picture. I got labeled with Lindsay Lohan. Shit.
Yeah, I got thrown with that question a lot too. Except I wasn't white, I was khaki.
I did not see the movie until last November.
Now, let me start, with the script. The plot is nothing complex on the exterior, which is fine because it's a high school picture, you're not expecting some noir concepts or a psychological horror... though, those would be pretty cool set in high schools...
Noir's been done, though. So I better start on that psychological horror!
But, the strength of the Mean Girls has over the atmosphere in America's schools is the same strength the tv series Metalocalypse has over the metal industry. Despite some over-exaggeration for the sake of laughs, the punches sting for real. There are people who think like this, there are people who act like this in a high school and it's probably going to continue being casual until a new form of social rule takes charge.
This doesn't change the fact that the dialogue is one of the most quotable things I've heard, even for an adult male. Every once in a while, I'll gladly quote 'She doesn't even go here', 'Aw hell no! I did not leave the south side for this' or my personal favorite 'And on the third day, God created the Remington Full-Action Rifle... so that Man could fight the dinosaurs... and the homosexuals'. And nobody would demand my man card back.
Tina Fey has a way with writing, at least so I can tell with this movie. But everybody's acclaim for 30 Rock
can't be wrong, right?
What does sadden me is that, while the acting is, for the most part, fairly adequate enough to run this point through the film, it looks as though most of the actors are just cashing in. Lohan does well as a likable character, a surprise for me, especially well after her, erm, reputation. And McAdams' breakout role proves to be just about that, giving a nuanced performance as the girl who puts up her best face to school. After seeing the movie, I got just why every girl in school wanted to be Regina George. She was that good.
But the rest of the cast probably haven't put their all with what they were given. Maybe it's the fact that most were familiar faces to me, but Tina Fey was Tina Fey to me in the movie, not Ms. Norbury. Tim Meadows was Tim Meadows, Lacey Chabert was Lacey Chabert, Neil Flynn was Neil Flynn, Lizzy Caplan was Lalaine (yea, I accidentally assumed Janis was that girl from Lizzie McGuire. Do something).
Oh wait! That's right, she explodes!!!
I will admit I found Daniel Franzese and Amanda Seyfried charming though. You always get slack cut when your characters make me laugh. Also when Franzese reminded me of a friend (ironically the same friend who suggested this movie as my first review) and Seyfried is both hot and an actress in Veronica Mars. Whoot! Veronica Mars!!!
Why can't most women by like Veronica Mars?
Cinematography probably wasn't tried at. It's not a staple of high school films again, I get that. But when I see a movie, I want to see a movie and I'd expect the picture to at least reflect that without trying to enhance it. The closest thing to cinema effort I saw in the movie was the Winter Recital and some editing work during the two Overnight-esque montages. They clearly were most focused on the script to cover their weaknesses, which is fine because it did turn out to be well worth it.
So, Mean Girls was a whole lot better of a movie than I was expecting. I won't give it best high school movie I've seen anytime soon, but it's not bad.
6/10... yea, I'm one of those reviewers.
Lohan at a talent show? Least attended show ever.
Lohan in a playboy spread? Least purchased issue in publishing history.
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