STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH

MEAN GIRLS

(2004)
With Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler
Directed by Mark Waters
Reviewed by JB

Girls Gone Mean Lindsay Lohan is one of the most overhyped celebrities in recent years, more famous for her late-night partying and her dysfunctional father than for her acting talents. Hardly a day goes by without her picture being printed in the gossip sections of the New York tabloids. So I went into MEAN GIRLS already disliking her. But I'll be damned if she didn't win me over, onscreen if not off, in this often amusing teen comedy as a new high school student who joins the school's bitchiest clique and then works from the inside to break it up. It's a more intelligent modern-day teen comedy than most, based on high school politics rather than sex and bodily functions, with genuinely funny dialogue and characterizations. Despite its superficial resemblance to HEATHERS, it's much closer to John Hughes's teen comedies in spirit.

Lohan's well-rounded performance as a girl formerly home-schooled in Africa allows the other ladies in the cast to throw themselves into their stereotypes with gusto. The beautiful Rachel McAdams is the embodiment of all things evil in high school - the most popular girl in school who is conversely the meanest - while former Party of Five star Lacey Chabert displays a nice flair for comedy as McAdams's clingy, gossipy drone. Amanda Seyfried is also fun as a second drone, a vastly dumb blonde who is vaguely aware of her intellectual shortcomings. Written by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey, who also plays a math teacher, and featuring several SNL cast members, including Tim Meadows, who quietly goes about getting chuckles throughout as the school's exasperated principal. ½ - JB

ADD ANOTHER QUOTE AND MAKE IT A GALLON

"So if you're from Africa, why are you white?
"Oh my God, Karen, you can't just ask somebody why they're white!"