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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Mean Girls
Paramount Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, language and some teen partying
Starring
Lindsay Lohan,
Rachel McAdams,
Tim Meadows,
Ana Gasteyer,
Amy Poehler,
Tina Fey,
Lizzy Caplan,
and
Lacey Chabert
Raised in the African bush country by her zoologist parents, Cady Heron (Lohan) thinks she knows about "survival of the fittest." But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the home-schooled 15-year-old enters public high school for the first time and falls prey to the psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face today. (Paramount Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Tina Fey
Rosalind Wiseman (book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Mark S. Waters
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 21, 2004
Video: September 21, 2004
Theatrical: April 30, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
97 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Portland Oregonian
Karen Karbo
Sassy and sharp.
80
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
There's a sly intelligence at work here -- in the writing, the filmmaking and the acting -- that makes it deeply pleasurable to watch.
80
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Smart, funny, well-acted and visually lively.
80
Slate
David Edelstein
Fey's comic gifts mesh with Wiseman's first-hand research, and the wit becomes dazzling.
80
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
The comedy is funny as hell. And yes, I mean hell, not heck.
75
USA Today
Mike Clark
Mean Girls has the same fancifully dead-on tone as the 1995 high-school comedy "Clueless" without the sweetness because, hey, these snits are mean.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The screenplay by Tina Fey -- head writer for "Saturday Night Live" -- is marvelously smart, though, and the ensemble cast is uncannily in sync with it.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
A vinegary fable with a Splenda aftertaste -- is a harbinger of hope not only for future feminist comedies of any grit but also for ''SNL''-staffed feature films that don't disproportionately suck.
75
Chicago Tribune
Robert K. Elder
Though not a perfect comedy, it manages to be quite often laugh-out-loud funny. The film's strong cast, including scene-stealing "SNL"er Tim Meadows as the school principal, also helps smooth out most of the rough edges.
75
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Likable Lohan doesn't exude the vulnerability that would give the movie true heart, and Fey, head writer for "Saturday Night Live," crafts better punch lines than plots.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
The plot is flimsy, but director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday) trusts Fey's tart dialogue to carry the day. Wise man. Fey subverts formula to find comic gold. She's a brash new voice in movie comedy. Boy, do we need her now.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Mean Girls dissects high school society with a lot of observant detail, which seems surprisingly well-informed. The screenplay by "Saturday Night Live's" Tina Fey is both a comic and a sociological achievement.
75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
The movie is always entertaining and frequently smart about the new ground one girl will break to humiliate another.
75
Premiere
Peter Debruge
Mean Girls depicts the kind of traumatic high school experience that might await spoiled rich girls who grow up in two-parent households with designer clothes and Escalades.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
As in "The House of Yes'' and "Freaky Friday,'' Waters keeps it wild but real, and the result is not only a series of lively scenes but lively close-ups: The big-eyed, expressive performances are just fun to watch.
70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
A smart little teen picture that, for a change, actually features recognizable teens.
70
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
The director, Mark Waters, working with a smart casting team, has assembled a superb group of players. Scene by scene you can't help being impressed by Mean Girls; it's like a group of sketches linked by a theme, with some playing much better than others.
70
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
He (director Mark Waters) keeps the story light and bright, and he brings out real comic performances from his cast, including newcomer Seyfried, who plays her ditz with Judy Holliday charm.
70
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Bellyflops into the increasingly complicated American high school experience with a healthy reservoir of wit.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, Mean Girls lives up to its title.
70
Variety
David Rooney
This sassy if wildly uneven comedy navigates the treacherous high school jungle that separates cool cliques from wannabes, wading through some nasty behavior before delivering its moral message.
70
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Director Waters and screenwriter Tina Fey (also cast as the voice-of-reason math teacher) aim less for the usual high-gloss caricature than acutely hilarious sociology, nailing the servile malice of 15-year-old girls.
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
The film lacks the discipline to stay on point all the time, but Fey and director Mark S. Waters (Freaky Friday) have fun with offbeat throwaway touches.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The limp climax doesn't undo the solid humor, wicked social commentary, and delicious satire that precedes it, but it leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. In the end, Mean Girls isn't mean enough.
63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Isn't exactly original: This is basically "Heathers" for a new generation, its satirical edges dulled, if still sharp enough to sting.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Karen Heller
Alternately intriguing then not, and, like its subject, features a lot of lip gloss and girl-on-girl zingers. And like most contemporary movies, Mean Girls has no ending.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Lohan, in her third lead role in a year, is a good reactive young actress, and London, Ont., native Rachel McAdams is excellently evil, a dose of poison in a pretty lacquered container.
60
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
A high school comedy that is sharply observed and often terrifically funny, yet oddly misconceived.
60
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
It's all very well to satirize perfect white females, but if you're sick of their attitudes why single them out as protagonists in the first place? What happened to the Asian Nerds? Or the Unfriendly Black Hotties? Or the tired teachers? Why can't we see a movie about them? [10 May 2004, p. 108]
60
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Pleasantly acted and moderately funny, but it lacks the genuine bile that made "Heathers" (1987) so bracing.
60
TV Guide
Angel Cohn
Strikes a carefully calibrated balance between the film's darkly malicious sense of humor and its pastel sets and costumes.
60
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Lohan is a warm and engaging presence, but she's completely outshone by the bad girls, and when they're offscreen, Mean Girls is an oddly restrained, barely plotted movie.
60
Film Threat
Christopher Zinsli
It is Fey’s refusal to talk down to her audience that elevates Mean Girls above most other teen movies out there.
60
Empire
Caroline Westbrook
Despite its shortcomings -- it’s still one of the better teen movies to come along in a while.
50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Beyond the philosophizing, Mean Girls is a standard collection of low comic jokes.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
Wistful voiceover explains too much, and, even worse, interrupts the requisite Teen Movie Climactic Speech.
50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
All Fey does is apply a smattering of wit to the story.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Basically a watered-down collage of scenes from "Heathers," "Clueless," "Sixteen Candles" and numerous other teen flicks.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ellen A. Kim
The film can't decide between black comedy and bubblegum comedy, so it shoots aimlessly in between.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 107 User Votes
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