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Sassy and sharp.
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80There's a sly intelligence at work here -- in the writing, the filmmaking and the acting -- that makes it deeply pleasurable to watch.
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80Fey's comic gifts mesh with Wiseman's first-hand research, and the wit becomes dazzling.
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80The comedy is funny as hell. And yes, I mean hell, not heck.
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80Smart, funny, well-acted and visually lively.
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75The 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.
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75Mean 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.
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75Though 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.
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75The screenplay by Tina Fey -- head writer for "Saturday Night Live" -- is marvelously smart, though, and the ensemble cast is uncannily in sync with it.
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75Likable 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.
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75As 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.
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75Mean Girls has the same fancifully dead-on tone as the 1995 high-school comedy "Clueless" without the sweetness because, hey, these snits are mean.
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75The movie is always entertaining and frequently smart about the new ground one girl will break to humiliate another.
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75Mean 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.
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75A 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.
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70Results in an edgy comedy, where laughs stem at times from uncomfortable situations. In other words, Mean Girls lives up to its title.
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70A smart little teen picture that, for a change, actually features recognizable teens.
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70The 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.
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70Director 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.
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70Bellyflops into the increasingly complicated American high school experience with a healthy reservoir of wit.
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70He (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.
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70The 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.
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70This 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.
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63Isn't exactly original: This is basically "Heathers" for a new generation, its satirical edges dulled, if still sharp enough to sting.
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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.
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63The 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.
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63Lohan, 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.
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60Strikes a carefully calibrated balance between the film's darkly malicious sense of humor and its pastel sets and costumes.
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60It is Fey’s refusal to talk down to her audience that elevates Mean Girls above most other teen movies out there.
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60Despite its shortcomings -- it’s still one of the better teen movies to come along in a while.
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60Lohan 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.
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60A high school comedy that is sharply observed and often terrifically funny, yet oddly misconceived.
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60It'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]
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60Pleasantly acted and moderately funny, but it lacks the genuine bile that made "Heathers" (1987) so bracing.
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50Basically a watered-down collage of scenes from "Heathers," "Clueless," "Sixteen Candles" and numerous other teen flicks.
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50All Fey does is apply a smattering of wit to the story.
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50Beyond the philosophizing, Mean Girls is a standard collection of low comic jokes.
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50Wistful voiceover explains too much, and, even worse, interrupts the requisite Teen Movie Climactic Speech.
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50The film can't decide between black comedy and bubblegum comedy, so it shoots aimlessly in between.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 76 out of 88
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Mixed: 6 out of 88
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Negative: 6 out of 88
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AnnaW10This is a great amkerican movie... Rachel McAdams do a fantastic job... Lindsay LOhan is good. Mean Girls is a fantastic movie!
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