The first Plastics lunch, Burn Book brawl and pink-shirt walk
In the discussion (10)
- The talent-show Jingle Bell Rock performance and Amy Poehler dancing in the aisle are nominated
- The sabotage montage is praised while the purse-theft setup raises questions
- The four-way phone call is nominated
- Cady inheriting the followers after Regina’s lunchroom humiliation is nominated
- The Burn Book outbreak and principal’s gym intervention are nominated
- Janis’s confession through Regina being hit by the bus is nominated
- The first lunch is praised for introducing Regina’s manipulation
- The first Burn Book and cool-mom scene is nominated
- Cady’s oversized pink lacrosse shirt is a personal selection
- Amanda explicitly chooses the first lunch
Regina George, Lohan’s performance and Tina Fey’s script
In the discussion (11)
- Lohan’s 2004 performance is praised
- Regina George is considered an enduring high-school villain
- Gretchen is argued to be the true enabler who learns little
- The supporting ensemble is celebrated
- Homeschooling efficiently makes Cady an outsider
- The nutrition-bar sabotage is admired
- Janis’s outsider styling later became fashionable
- The rules-of-feminism joke is appreciated
- Damian’s talent-show performance and Halloween conventions remain funny
- The script’s observations support a strong later meme life
- The panel nearly awards the whole movie
Four-way calls, the coach subplot and Africa generalizations
In the discussion (12)
- Four-way telephone calls feel obsolete beside FaceTime
- The soundtrack is criticized as underselling its young female audience
- Kelis’s Milkshake is defended as an exception
- Budget limitations are suggested as a possible explanation for music choices
- Jonathan Bennett’s narrow subsequent screen identity is lamented
- The surprise of Lacey Chabert having grown up is harder for later viewers to share
- Fetch not catching on is raised, then reconsidered because the rejection phrase endured
- The teacher-underage-student joke feels uncomfortable
- Samantha Ronson’s song evokes the later celebrity relationship for one host
- Cady lowering her grades for Aaron is criticized and defended as intentional satire
- Racial stereotypes and treating Africa as one homogeneous place are criticized
- Final preferences split among technology, the coach plot and Africa references
The original Vivian Award is recalled
In the discussion (2)
- Bill says the best-clothes award began during Pretty Woman at Amanda’s request
- This mention introduces a reverse version rather than selecting a best-clothes winner here
Cady’s party dress and school skirt-and-top combination
In the discussion (6)
- The early-2000s wide-waistband miniskirts evoke painful fashion memories
- High heels and office-style pumps at school are questioned
- Heavy eyeliner and blue eye shadow are discussed
- One choice is Cady’s black-and-pink party dress
- Another is her short skirt and Henley combination
- The hosts acknowledge that looking uncomfortable and overdone serves the Plastics satire
Lohan and McAdams swapped initial roles; Franco and Cuthbert considered
In the discussion (7)
- Lohan and McAdams originally auditioned for the opposite roles
- Lohan wanted Regina; the director insisted she was the heroine
- McAdams is judged too knowing to make the homeschooled Cady work
- James Franco is reported as an Aaron Samuels possibility
- Franco would add a darker presence that might shift focus away from the girls
- Elisha Cuthbert is reported to have lost Regina
- The panel prefers the cast as it is
Kevin G and Damian; Amy Poehler’s nomination is disputed
In the discussion (6)
- Kevin G is the initial leading choice
- Bill nominates Poehler and argues for ten percent less intensity
- The others strongly defend the cool-mom character’s broadness
- Damian’s candy-cane delivery is proposed as too heightened
- One participant retains Kevin G while another accepts the Damian alternative
- Bill concedes he will not formally choose Poehler despite his personal preference
Tim Meadows, with Amanda Seyfried as the alternative
In the discussion (6)
- Amy Poehler and Tim Meadows are nominated
- Seyfried is added for doing a lot with limited screen time
- Her spacey physical comedy and psychic/ESPN confusion are praised
- Meadows is preferred for making an underwritten principal work
- His relationship with Ms. Norbury and gym lines are highlighted
- A second participant agrees with Meadows while one retains Seyfried
October 3, script changes and production details
In the discussion (13)
- October 3 is discussed as fan-observed Mean Girls Day
- Homeschooled is reported as the original title
- Fey pitched relational aggression and Michaels also wanted aspirational cars and clothes
- The North Shore setting connects wealth with popularity
- Sexual dialogue was softened to reach PG-13
- Tim Meadows’s broken hand was incorporated as carpal tunnel
- Poehler is reported to be only seven years older than McAdams
- Seyfried recalls Chabert welcoming her and listening to Dido together
- An alleged deleted explicit scene is read and doubted as tonally implausible
- A sausage piece reportedly motivated the Chihuahua gag
- The Broadway musical is praised secondhand
- The direct-to-video sequel and Lohan’s later sequel pitches are discussed
- The hosts speculate over whether McAdams or Poehler would be hardest to schedule
Lindsay Lohan is unanimous; other careers peak elsewhere
In the discussion (7)
- Lohan is the emphatic unanimous choice for this being her career peak
- Fey is placed at the overlap of 30 Rock and Sarah Palin impressions
- Poehler and Seyfried are rejected for this point in their careers
- Tim Meadows is floated, with The Ladies Man as an alternative
- Chabert is placed at Party of Five
- McAdams’s power is associated with completing the Mean Girls–Notebook–Wedding Crashers run
- The Gosling/McAdams MTV kiss is recalled as part of that moment
The nutrition-bar deception and the tidy ending
In the discussion (9)
- Would image-conscious Regina really misunderstand the bars while gaining weight?
- The panel acknowledges the film tries to depict nutritional ignorance but still doubts it
- Why would Cady win the dance crown after the Burn Book scandal?
- The outcome is defended as an anti-Regina vote
- Kevin G and Janis ending up together seems arbitrary
- The Norbury/principal pairing is called too neat and professionally awkward
- Cady’s closing speech feels like a different, moralizing film
- The crosswalk and speeding school bus are questioned
- The crown breaks too easily
Stop trying to make fetch happen
In the discussion (9)
- The fetch rejection is the final shared preference
- The rules-of-feminism line is nominated
- Janis’s comments about Damian are discussed in the context of friendship
- Karen’s ESPN and psychic claims are nominated
- Gretchen’s secrets-filled hair is nominated
- The rainbow-cake speech and the outsider interruption are nominated
- Poehler’s cool-mom declaration is nominated
- Wearing pink on Wednesdays is nominated
- The shopping invitation is nominated
A smart television version could work; a generic teen remake is less appealing
In the discussion (5)
- The panel agrees a ten-episode adaptation is possible but questions whether it should exist
- One host would immediately sample it
- Another requires the original’s intelligence rather than a generic teen soap
- The Bold Type is offered as a useful tonal model
- Mean Girls 2020 is floated as an election-like title
Regina’s college lacrosse future and Cady/Aaron’s breakup
In the discussion (5)
- Would Regina become an All-American college lacrosse player?
- Williams, Duke and Northwestern are proposed as destinations
- The ending redirects her aggression into competitive sport
- Would Cady and Aaron break up at Halloween or Thanksgiving?
- The imagined timeline is a Halloween fight followed by a Thanksgiving breakup
Most Rewatchable Scene
