For other uses, see Mean Girls (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Mean Girl.
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried. The film follows Cady Heron (Lohan), a naïve
Teenager who transfers to an American high school after years of homeschooling in Africa. Heron quickly befriends two outcasts, with the trio forming a plan to exact revenge on Regina George (McAdams), the leader of an envied clique known as the Plastics.
The screenplay is based on Queen Bees and Wannabes, a self-help book written by Rosalind Wiseman. The book describes female high school social cliques, school bullying, and the damaging effect they can have on teenagers. Fey also drew from her own experience at Upper Darby High School, in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, as an inspiration for some of the film's concepts.[3]
Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels produced the film. Fey was a long-term cast member and writer for Saturday Night Live. Filming took place from September to November 2003. Although set in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, the film was mostly shot in Toronto, Canada. It marks Lohan's second collaboration with director Waters; the first was Freaky Friday, released in 2003.
Released on April 30, 2004, Mean Girls grossed $130.1 million worldwide and has become an enduring classic.[4] Critics praised Waters' direction, Fey's screenplay, its humor, and the performances; especially lauded was Lohan's acting, which earned several accolades including three Teen Choice Awards and two MTV Movie Awards, and in 2021, was listed as the eleventh-best performance of the 21st century by The New Yorker.
A made-for-TV sequel Mean Girls 2, premiered on ABC Family in January 2011. Mean Girls also spawned various adaptations, including a stage musical, which premiered on Broadway in March 2018, with a film adaptation that was released on January 12, 2024.
Plot[edit]
Sixteen-year-old homeschooled Cady Heron and her research scientist parents return to the United States after 12 years in Africa, settling in Evanston, Illinois. After an intimidating first day at North Shore High School, Cady befriends outsiders Janis Ian and Damian Leigh, who explain the school's various cliques and warn her to avoid the Plastics, a clique consisting of wealthy but insecure Gretchen Wieners, sweet but dimwitted Karen Smith, and queen bee Regina George. When Cady is invited to sit with the Plastics at lunch, Janis persuades her to infiltrate them.
Cady becomes attracted to Aaron Samuels, a senior in her calculus class and Regina's ex-boyfriend, and learns about the Burn Book, a scrapbook the Plastics fill with cruel rumors about students and faculty. At a Halloween house party, Regina offers to talk to Aaron on Cady's behalf but instead, she kisses him in front of her and resumes their relationship. Feeling betrayed, Cady fully commits to Janis' plan to ruin Regina's life, targeting her boyfriend, body, and fellow Plastics. Regina tells Cady that she and Janis were once friends until she accused Janis of being a lesbian and ostracized her.
After their attempts to sabotage Regina's skin and wardrobe backfire, Cady, Janis, and Damian plan to turn Gretchen against her. They make it seem as though Regina has sent candy cane grams to Cady and Karen while excluding Gretchen. Regina further humiliates Gretchen during the Plastics' dance performance at the Winter Talent Show, leading Gretchen to tell Cady all of Regina's embarrassing secrets. Cady informs Aaron that Regina is cheating on him, prompting them to break up, and tricks Regina into eating Kalteen nutrition bars that Cady purports to be weight-losing, but which in reality causes her to gain weight. After violating the Plastics' dress code rules due to wearing sweatpants, the only thing that fit her, Regina is banished and replaced by Cady as the new "queen bee."
Cady throws a house party while her parents are away and drunkenly admits to Aaron that she has been deliberately failing math class to make him help her, but he rebukes her for becoming as manipulative and image-obsessed as Regina. Janis and Damian confront Cady for lying to them about the party and remaking herself in Regina's image. Cady accuses Janis of being obsessed with her, and Janis declares her a "mean girl," renouncing their friendship.
Realizing Cady's betrayal, Regina retaliates by distributing the contents of the Burn Book throughout school, inciting chaos among the girls of the junior class. She avoids suspicion by inserting insults about herself, and blame is placed on Cady, Gretchen, and Karen. To restore order, Principal Duvall and math teacher Ms. Norbury gather the female junior students in the gym to apologize to each other. Regina insults Janis' sexuality, prompting Janis to reveal her entire plan to destroy Regina's life, as the students cheer. Regina storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady, and is struck by a school bus, fracturing her spine.
When Ms. Norbury is investigated as a drug dealer because of comments Cady wrote in the Burn Book, Cady takes full blame for the book. She is shunned by her peers and distrusted by her own parents, but she gradually returns to her old self. To earn extra credit, she joins the school Mathletes at the state finals, answering the tiebreaker correctly to win the championship. The team arrives at the Spring Fling dance, where Cady is elected queen, but declares that all her classmates are wonderful in their own ways, snapping the plastic tiara and distributing the pieces to other girls in the crowd, including Janis, Gretchen, and Regina. She rekindles her friendship with Janis and Damian, m