Narrator (Edward Norton, Fight Club, 1999)
|
Narrator (Edward Norton, Fight Club, 1999) |
|
As I walked into Mean Girls I had heard some positive news coming from others talking about it. I was curious enough and looked into it myself. When I came out I was thinking what many others have said, “Mean Girls is surprisingly good.” High School is filled with cliques and groups and as a student myself I see these things day in and out. People putting one another down and just not a lot of respect to go around among the students. Mean Girls shows High School in one of the most accurate ways I have seen put to the screen and the result of the film is very surprising. I had seen ads and such for it and expected a fairly serious but a silly film that would linger on happiness and not have a dark moment or so on to it. You may just as surprised as I am but let me further my talking of it. The story centers on Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) (Not Caddy, Katie) who has been home school her entire life. She has lived in Africa while her parents had been doing expeditions and so on in the area being zoologists. Once she moves to a bigger American city she is just a naďve new student in a new “jungle” so to speak. She meets two students who are not considered part of the “better” crowd and social outcasts and becomes friends with them. However, soon enough she meets the “popular” clique of the school know as The Plastics. The Plastics are made up of Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert), Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) and the leader of the pack, Regina George (Rachel McAdams). The Plastics accept her as one of their own and her two out-cast friends soon agree this would be a good idea to hang out with The Plastics and talk about the stupid things they do behind their back. However, Cady soon begins to like Aaron Samuels who is a former boyfriend of Regina. This is a complete no to Regina and once she finds out Regina and Samuel are back together again. Cady falls into what she thought she wouldn’t. The film surprisingly and perfectly portrays High School’s atmosphere, the cliques and how girls act among them. Based from Rosalind Wiseman’s book (“Queen Bees and Wannabes”) it is a very well written film and one of the better-written films about high school and cliques. There is nothing in my mind that really sticks out as bad about the writing. It was all done very well and continued the story without trying to be too smart for itself or too stupid for itself. Tina Fey, who also plays the teacher Ms. Norbury in the film, did an excellent job of adapting the book and putting the books and her own feelings into it. Mark Waters’ direction of the film is solid but probably the weakest part of it. What really carried this film was the acting and the writing, which were both very, very good. This is one of the most pleasant surprises in recent memories. Lindsay Lohan is only 17 years old and has already had a very successful acting career starring in such films as the remake of Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. Both of which have been good mother / daughter films that the can go out and see together not having to worry themselves with the content of the film. In Mean Girls, Lohan takes her acting in a bit of a different direction. She still maintains her high school innocence but at the same time takes on more serious things and a film that may not be as appropriate for younger mother and daughters. The result is very good, however and shows us that she is an up and coming very good actress. A strong performance. The rest of the supporting performances also tag along and are involved nicely. The Plastics are perfectly portrayed, as are the mothers, fathers and teachers of the film. The acting overall is not Academy Award winning material but good stuff, nonetheless. The film in the end is as I said at the beginning, surprisingly nice. It is something I could go back and see and laugh at again. It is well written, acted and presented and even in its weaker elements it does not bring it down to a stupid humor High School film. A more mature film than you may think is what you are presented with in the end. I was very pleasantly surprised by Mean Girls and encourage you to go out and see it. 2004 is shaping up to be a good year for films and some may go unnoticed. Do not let this surprise of a good film get past you. |
|
© 2002 - 2007, MovieJustice.com Powered by: ezDatabase 2.1.1; © 2003 - 2010 IndexCOR LLC |
