Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
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When a blonde sorority queen is dumped by her boyfriend, she decides to follow him to law school to get him back and, once there, learns she has more legal savvy than she ever imagined.
Director:
Robert Luketic
Stars:
Reese Witherspoon,
Luke Wilson,
Selma Blair
When her brother decides to ditch for a couple weeks in London, Viola heads over to his elite boarding school, disguises herself as him, and proceeds to fall for one of her soccer teammates. Little does she realize she's not the only one with romantic troubles, as she, as he, gets in the middle of a series of intermingled love affairs.
Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.
A young man and woman decide to take their friendship to the next level without becoming a couple, but soon discover that adding sex only leads to complications.
Director:
Will Gluck
Stars:
Mila Kunis,
Justin Timberlake,
Patricia Clarkson
After a humiliating command performance at The Kennedy Center, the Barden Bellas enter an international competition that no American group has ever won in order to regain their status and right to perform.
Director:
Elizabeth Banks
Stars:
Anna Kendrick,
Rebel Wilson,
Hailee Steinfeld
Cady Heron, a homeschooled girl, lived in Africa for 15 years. Entering public school for the first time, she meets the "worst" of her classmates, the Plastics. She joins and eventually gets assimilated into the group of three unkind girls. But she later tries to bring them down. Written by
gamergcfan
There is a diploma from DePaul University in Mr. Duvall's office. See more »
Goofs
The senior artist credit is misspelled "SENIOR ARTITST". See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Chip Heron:
This is your lunch, OK? I put a dollar in there so you can buy some milk; you can ask one of the big kids where to do that.
Betsy Heron:
Do you remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you just in case. Put it in your pocket, I don't want you to lose it. OK? You ready?
Cady:
I think so.
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Crazy Credits
The senior artist credit is misspelled "SENIOR ARTITST". See more »
I have to admit that despite being a straight, 22 year old guy I have always had a weakness for teen films so I was looking forward to Lindsay Lohan's (who really impressed me in 'Freaky Friday' and the much underrated 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen') latest.
It exceeded my expectations.
Lindsay is on great form, instantly likable as Cady and believable both as a regular girl and a "regulation hottie". This girl is one of the best comic actresses of her generation and has created a fully rounded character it is difficult not to root for. Not that she carries the film alone.
Of the adults Tim Meadows does sterling work in translating his character with relatively few lines. Neil Flynn (familiar as the Janitor from 'Scrubs') is even better with some great facial expressions as a father as much at sea in suburban America as his daughter. As for Tina Fey... a terrific performance of course and she is still as cute as she was on Saturday Night Live but where she really shines is in the screenplay which sounds real enough (at least for a teen film) and has some razor sharp areas (like Coach Carr's 'lessons').
Of course the key group is the titular Mean Girls themselves - Regina (Rachel McAdams), Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried). Rachel McAdams creates a memorable High School tyrant, malicous, power mad and cruel but not entirely virtue free. She'd screw you over in a heartbeat if you stepped on her turf, but the nonthreatening Gretchen is allowed some reward for loyalty. Gretchen herself, played by the delectable Lacey Chabert is a character of her own, not just a cardboard minion to follow orders. Neurotic, shallow, desperate, beautiful, loyal and rather uncertain she is perhaps the saddest and most sympathetic of the Plastics - a girl who certainly has the looks and money to make it to the top of the pyramid but who lacked the will or the certainty. Not a problem with Karen (Amanda Seyfried) who has an admirable certainty of herself and her abilities. In one of the films best lines after a telling off from Regina, Cady tries to comfort her:
Cady: You're not stupid, Karen.
To which Karen replies thoughtfully (without a hint of bitterness or anger):
Karen: No, I am, actually. I'm failing everything.
Indeed she is. Karen is an airhead, and if not actively proud of it, at least accepting. She doesn't seem cruel herself, possibly because she is simply too shallow and dense, but she doesn't seem a bad person. Which for the second minion (Gretchen outranks her) to the villainous is quite a remarkable achievement.
Finally I must mention Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese as Janice and Damian respectively, the outsiders we are rooting for, in theory. They do good work, though I found them slightly dry next to the endlessly dysfunctional Plastics (though that may be something to do with me finding Lacey Chabert much more attractive than Daniel Franzese!)
Overall a very good piece of work from all concerned. If you like teen movies then you'll find this a very good one. If you don't, well hold your nose and try it anyway, you might be pleasantly surprised!
189 of 236 people found this review helpful.
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I have to admit that despite being a straight, 22 year old guy I have always had a weakness for teen films so I was looking forward to Lindsay Lohan's (who really impressed me in 'Freaky Friday' and the much underrated 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen') latest.
It exceeded my expectations.
Lindsay is on great form, instantly likable as Cady and believable both as a regular girl and a "regulation hottie". This girl is one of the best comic actresses of her generation and has created a fully rounded character it is difficult not to root for. Not that she carries the film alone.
Of the adults Tim Meadows does sterling work in translating his character with relatively few lines. Neil Flynn (familiar as the Janitor from 'Scrubs') is even better with some great facial expressions as a father as much at sea in suburban America as his daughter. As for Tina Fey... a terrific performance of course and she is still as cute as she was on Saturday Night Live but where she really shines is in the screenplay which sounds real enough (at least for a teen film) and has some razor sharp areas (like Coach Carr's 'lessons').
Of course the key group is the titular Mean Girls themselves - Regina (Rachel McAdams), Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and Karen (Amanda Seyfried). Rachel McAdams creates a memorable High School tyrant, malicous, power mad and cruel but not entirely virtue free. She'd screw you over in a heartbeat if you stepped on her turf, but the nonthreatening Gretchen is allowed some reward for loyalty. Gretchen herself, played by the delectable Lacey Chabert is a character of her own, not just a cardboard minion to follow orders. Neurotic, shallow, desperate, beautiful, loyal and rather uncertain she is perhaps the saddest and most sympathetic of the Plastics - a girl who certainly has the looks and money to make it to the top of the pyramid but who lacked the will or the certainty. Not a problem with Karen (Amanda Seyfried) who has an admirable certainty of herself and her abilities. In one of the films best lines after a telling off from Regina, Cady tries to comfort her:
Cady: You're not stupid, Karen.
To which Karen replies thoughtfully (without a hint of bitterness or anger):
Karen: No, I am, actually. I'm failing everything.
Indeed she is. Karen is an airhead, and if not actively proud of it, at least accepting. She doesn't seem cruel herself, possibly because she is simply too shallow and dense, but she doesn't seem a bad person. Which for the second minion (Gretchen outranks her) to the villainous is quite a remarkable achievement.
Finally I must mention Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese as Janice and Damian respectively, the outsiders we are rooting for, in theory. They do good work, though I found them slightly dry next to the endlessly dysfunctional Plastics (though that may be something to do with me finding Lacey Chabert much more attractive than Daniel Franzese!)
Overall a very good piece of work from all concerned. If you like teen movies then you'll find this a very good one. If you don't, well hold your nose and try it anyway, you might be pleasantly surprised!