"Mean Girls" could be nicer
Tina Faye writes in some good laughs but fails to stretch the boarders of teen comedy
Shani Combs
Issue date: 5/24/04 Section: A&E
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Rich and nasty girls rule the school in yet another film looking into the petty world of high school teens. "Mean Girls," a seemingly typical "Heathers" meets "Clueless" flick, is actually funny at times and thought provoking in others.
The movie is about Cady (Lindsey Lohan), a home-schooled kid entering public school for the first time. She makes nice with both the weirdos and those of the in-crowd, and then becomes the pawn in a revenge scheme to take down the "plastics."
Screenwriter, Tina Fey, and current Saturday Night Live comedian, made amusing analogies between teenagers hanging at the mall, and wild animals in Africa.
In slow motion, jocks in letterman jackets pounce like lions while monkeys and tribal drums play in the background. The dialogue between the back-stabbing Homecoming queen (Rachel McAdams), and her "plastic co-horts" is both laugh out loud funny and shocking as the words "whore," "skank," and "fugly," are used throughout.
The grown up roles however, played by aging SNL cast members are uncomfortable to watch. The principal (Tim Meadows), putting the moves on Calculus teacher, (Tina Fey) is as awkward to watch as an SNL skit gone on way too long, and not that funny. Lindsey Lohan's performance is great and she is good at portraying a nerdy outcast and bitchy "plastic."
Problems with the film besides the somewhat mushy ending, are the terrible make-up jobs on the teen actors, and lack of a decent soundtrack. The main characters, while still in their youth, should not have had the same pancake foundation used on the older actors. The result was a greenish-hue that detracted from some of the more serious parts of the film.
The soundtrack was slapped together; most typical of most Lorne Michael films, although not one MTV TRL (Total Request Live) got played (thankfully) or may have gone unnoticed.
In any case "Mean Girls" is worth seeing in the theater. It gets enough laughs to keep you interested and gives a few pointers for getting even with enemies.
The movie is about Cady (Lindsey Lohan), a home-schooled kid entering public school for the first time. She makes nice with both the weirdos and those of the in-crowd, and then becomes the pawn in a revenge scheme to take down the "plastics."
Screenwriter, Tina Fey, and current Saturday Night Live comedian, made amusing analogies between teenagers hanging at the mall, and wild animals in Africa.
In slow motion, jocks in letterman jackets pounce like lions while monkeys and tribal drums play in the background. The dialogue between the back-stabbing Homecoming queen (Rachel McAdams), and her "plastic co-horts" is both laugh out loud funny and shocking as the words "whore," "skank," and "fugly," are used throughout.
The grown up roles however, played by aging SNL cast members are uncomfortable to watch. The principal (Tim Meadows), putting the moves on Calculus teacher, (Tina Fey) is as awkward to watch as an SNL skit gone on way too long, and not that funny. Lindsey Lohan's performance is great and she is good at portraying a nerdy outcast and bitchy "plastic."
Problems with the film besides the somewhat mushy ending, are the terrible make-up jobs on the teen actors, and lack of a decent soundtrack. The main characters, while still in their youth, should not have had the same pancake foundation used on the older actors. The result was a greenish-hue that detracted from some of the more serious parts of the film.
The soundtrack was slapped together; most typical of most Lorne Michael films, although not one MTV TRL (Total Request Live) got played (thankfully) or may have gone unnoticed.
In any case "Mean Girls" is worth seeing in the theater. It gets enough laughs to keep you interested and gives a few pointers for getting even with enemies.