Short skirts, shorter tempers

In "Mean Girls," Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) starts attending Evanston Township High School, her first public school as a junior after spending the first 16 years of her life being home-schooled in Africa. On day two, the naïve Cady meets The Plastics, led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams), a group of the meanest, most spoiled and most popular girls in school. Cady befriends The Plastics, but soon realizes the true evil of the group after Regina steals Cady's love interest, Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett). Cady begins to plot revenge against Regina, and the film quickly bogs down into a war of one-upmanship that soon involves the entire female population of the high school.\n"Mean Girls" feels a lot like a 21st-century version of 1989's "Heathers." The Plastics are very similar to the Heathers, and Cady goes through the same transformation as Winona Ryder's Veronica. Unfortunately, the film is not nearly as serious as its pseudo-predecessor. While there are some funny moments, the film does not lose its title as a teenage comedy. Also, the ending is very preachy, with a "can't we all just get along" conclusion.\nExtras on the DVD include a decent crew commentary (just try to ignore Lorne Michaels), three very dull featurettes, a blooper reel and deleted scenes (which, like most deleted scenes, only confirm why they were cut).\nOverall, the film is an above-average teen comedy. Every part of the film seems to just be a little better than mediocre. One of the most redeeming factors is Lindsay Lohan's acting; she proves her worth as a teenage star, displaying a lot more talent than other actresses she has been associated with recently. Actually all the teenagers display a large amount of talent (although classifying Rachel McAdams, who's 28, as a teen actress is a bit of a stretch), out-acting all the adult roles (primarily consisting of "SNL" cast members). Also, it is a good display of the way high school girls will treat each other, taken to cinematic extremes, of course. This film doesn't break any new grounds, but everyone will appreciate the humor laced throughout the film.