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
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
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
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
Most Rewatchable Scene
