Mean Girls | Tina Fey's Winning Punch

I have fond memories of high school. Perhaps the scene was different here in the Philippines a decade ago, or perhaps I did lead a sheltered existence, but I cringe involuntarily each time the cruelty of teenagers—especially teenage girls—to each other is explored. I have not read Rachel Wiseman’s Queen Bees and Wanna-Bes, from which Tina Fey has adapted her screenplay for Mean Girls, but I have a feeling it will leave me depressed. Meanwhile, the movie itself is an entirely different matter.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is entering school for the first time. All her life, she has been homeschooled by her parents, biologists who were stationed in Africa. Jolted into the reality that is American high school, Cady likens it to the jungle to which she is more familiar—and frighteningly, it almost proves true. Cady has a hard time fitting in, but is befriended by Goth girl Janis Ian (not the singer, played by Lizzy Caplan—although ‘At Seventeen’ does play in the background in one scene); and big gay guy Damian (no surname needed, played by Daniel Franzese).

In a surprising turn, Cady is also befriended by the most popular clique in their school, headed by the prettiest and most popular girl in school, Regina George (Rachel McAdams), who is also quite the bitch. Regina’s handmaidens are the rich, shallow Gretchen Wieners (a grown up Lacey Chabert) and the ditzy Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried). Janis has a score to settle with Regina, so she urges Cady to play along and find out their secrets. The trouble starts when Cady falls for Regina’s cast-off boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett—where has he been all my life?); in true mean-girl mold, Regina now wants him back and Cady is left hanging. Cady vows to fight back, but in the ensuing melee, which includes catfights in the halls and an unfortunate incident with a bus, Cady realizes that she has become a mean girl herself and challenges everything she thinks is right.

I don't know why, but I have always liked Lindsay Lohan. Every since she took on the dual roles of Hallie and Annie in The Parent Trap, I've always felt a certain degree of fondness for the red-headed freckle-faced kid. In Freaky Friday she wasn’t that much of a kid anymore, and in Mean Girls, she is staking her claim as Teen Queen of Hollywood (made-up title that could be awarded, in hindsight, to the likes of Molly Ringwald, or Jennifer Love Hewitt—thereby implying that this could be the kiss of death to an adult career).

She holds her own in this movie, and is definitely on her way to being the next ‘it’ girl. The movie, however, is a wonderful achievement not basically for Lohan, but for the screenwriter, Tina Fey, the first female headwriter of Saturday Night Live. Fey is able to effectively reshape the parenting manual that was Wiseman’s book and bend it into a light but intelligent romp into the agonies and ironies that constitute high school life. Hers is a brand of comedy so different from fellow SNL alumni Rob Schneider or Adam Sandler—a fresh new voice that won’t easily be overlooked.

Fey and Mark S. Waters (who also directed Lohan in Freaky Friday) are able to coach delightful comic performances from their young stars and some of the old ones, delving into what seem like stereotypes without being trite. Rachel McAdams, Rob Schneider’s alter ego in The Hot Chick, may be a little old to be playing high school teen queens (but I am not one to judge, right, Gabrielle Carteris and Bobby Andrews?); but she has a spirited turn as mean, conniving Regina. Lacey Chabert and Amanda Seyfried are equally effective as the henchwomen; and there is a notable performance by Rajiv Surendra, who plays a math geek-cum-rapper. The adult supporting cast gives a solid performance, and what do you expect from mostly Saturday Night Live alums—from the controlled yet hilarious performance of Tim Meadows as the Principal to the wacky Amy Poehler as Mrs. George (who is only five years older than McAdams, who plays her daughter). The best adult role, though, goes to the madam herself—Tina Fey essays Ms. Norbury’s sometime-clueless-but-actually-profound (and quite pretty) math teacher with understated comedy and great timing.

There are gems of one-liners, both comedic and otherwise: for a former math geek such as myself, there is Cady’s declaration that she likes math because it is the same in every country. The Plastics are apparently called such because of their resemblance to Barbie dolls, but as we know hereabouts, there is another more derogatory meaning that is more applicable to the clique. Other subplots, including Gretchen’s trying to initiate a new buzzword and its eventual demise at the hand of queen bee Regina, the hints at sexual tension between the principal and a teacher and a coach and a student, and the joke (shown in the trailer) about Karen kissing her cousin (“he’s just my first cousin anyway”) border on the ribald but are well-handled so as not to be totally vulgar.

More importantly, the movie does not degenerate into the clichés and stereotypes almost expected of teen movies. The denouement of Mean Girls, though, is a bit sappy, culminating in the Spring Fling (perhaps one of the few cliches in the film), where the loose ends are wrapped up a bit too nicely for comfort. The last fifteen minutes or so, despite getting a little preachy, don’t really ruin the whole movie, though, because the movie is downright enjoyable, from the fresh take on school, to the radio-friendly soundtrack, to the witticisms and the accurate teen language (“shut up!”). The same plot in the hands of a less gifted screenwriter would be a recipe for disaster. Fey has us in her thrall—what better way to look at high school’s foibles than from an outsider’s point of view, an outsider who is aware of the inconsequentiality but is still drawn like a moth to flame? This is a dissection of high school life, hidden in a gem of a teen comedy, which is almost on the dot. Although it may not reach the cult-classic status of, say, Heathers, it is right there, in league with Jawbreaker, as a simultaneously dark and funny film that you won’t hesitate to watch one more time.

Notes:
Rachel McAdams will next be seen in The Notebook opposite Sandra Bullock’s erstwhile boy-toy Ryan Gosling. They star as the younger version of star-crossed lovers Gena Rowlands and James Garner in the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks sentimental favorite. Something to sigh about next time!