Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried. The film follows Cady Heron (Lohan), a naïve teenager who transfers to an American high school after years of homeschooling in Africa. Heron quickly befriends two outcasts, with the trio forming a plan to exact revenge on Regina George (McAdams), the leader of an envied clique known as the Plastics.
Fey conceived the idea for Mean Girls after reading the self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes. The book describes female high school social cliques, school bullying, and the damaging effect they can have on teenagers. Fey also drew from her own experience at Upper Darby High School, in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, as an inspiration for some of the film’s concepts.[3] Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels produced the film. Fey was a long-term cast member and writer for Saturday Night Live. Principal photography took place from September to November 2003. Although set in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, the film was mostly shot in Toronto, Canada.
Mean Girls premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, California on April 19, 2004, and was released in the United States on April 30, by Paramount Pictures. The film grossed over $130 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics,[4] who praised Waters’ direction, Fey’s screenplay, its humor, and the performances; especially lauded was Lohan’s acting, which earned several accolades, including three Teen Choice Awards and two MTV Movie Awards, and in 2021, was listed as the eleventh-best performance of the 21st century by The New Yorker.
A made-for-television sequel, Mean Girls 2, premiered on ABC Family in January 2011. Mean Girls also spawned various adaptations, including a stage musical, which premiered on Broadway in March 2018, with a film adaptation that was released on January 2024.
Sixteen-year-old homeschooled Cady Heron and her research scientist parents return to the United States after 12 years in Africa, settling in Evanston, Illinois. After an intimidating first day at North Shore High School, outsiders Janis Ian and Damian Leigh befriend Cady. They explain the school’s various cliques, warning her about the Plastics: wealthy but insecure Gretchen Wieners, sweet but dimwitted Karen Smith, and queen bee Regina George. Cady is invited to sit with them at lunch, so Janis persuades her to infiltrate them.
Cady becomes attracted to senior Aaron Samuels from her calculus class, Regina’s ex, and sees the Burn Book, a scrapbook the Plastics fill with cruel rumors about students and faculty. At a Halloween house party, instead of talking to Aaron on Cady’s behalf, Regina kisses him in front of her and resumes their relationship. Feeling betrayed, Cady fully commits to Janis’ plan to ruin Regina’s life, targeting her boyfriend, body, and fellow Plastics. Regina reveals she and Janis were once friends until she accused Janis of being a lesbian and ostracized her.
Attempts to sabotage Regina’s skin and wardrobe backfire, so Cady, Janis, and Damian work to turn Gretchen against her. They make her feel excluded by Regina, by sending candy cane-grams to Cady and Karen but not Gretchen. Regina later humiliates her during the Plastics’ dance performance at the Winter Talent Show, so Gretchen tells Cady all of Regina’s embarrassing secrets.
Cady informs Aaron that Regina is cheating on him, prompting them to break up, and tricks her into eating Kalteen nutrition bars to lose weight, but which actually do the opposite. After violating the Plastics’ dress code rules by wearing sweatpants, the only thing that fit her, Regina is banished and Cady becomes the new “queen bee”.
When Janis invites Cady to her art show, she pretends she will be out of town with her parents but instead throws a house party that night. Drunk,she admits to Aaron that she has been deliberately failing math class so he can tutor her. He rebukes her for becoming as manipulative and image-obsessed as Regina and storms off just as Regina walks in on them. Janis and Damian confront Cady for lying to them about the party and becoming Regina. When Cady accuses Janis of being obsessed with her, Janis declares she is a “mean girl,” like Regina, so Janis renounces their friendship.
To get revenge, Regina writes a nasty note in the Burn Book, but then puts her photo in order to blame Cady, Karen, and Gretchen. Afterwards she distributes photocopies of the book throughout school, inciting chaos.
To restore order, Principal Duvall and math teacher Ms. Norbury gather the female junior students in the gym to apologize to each other. After Regina insults Janis’ sexuality, Janis reveals her entire plan to destroy Regina, to the students’ cheers. Regina storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady, but is struck by a school bus in front of the school and fractures her spine.
Ms. Norbury is investigated as a drug dealer due to comments Cady wrote in the Burn Book, so Cady takes full responsibility. Shunned by her peers and distrusted by her own parents, she gradually returns to her old self. In order to earn extra credit, Cady joins the school Mathletes at the state finals, answering the tiebreaker correctly to win the championship.
The team arrives at the Spring Fling dance, where Cady is elected queen. She declares that all her classmates are wonderful in their own ways, snapping the plastic tiara and distributing the pieces to others in the crowd, including Janis, Gretchen, and Regina. She re-establishes her connections with Janis and Damian, Aaron, and makes peace with the Plastics.
The Plastics disband their senior year; Regina joins the lacrosse team to channel her anger, Karen becomes the school weather reporter, and Gretchen joins the “Cool Asians” clique. Aaron graduates and attends Northwestern University while maintaining a relationship with Cady. Even Janis starts a relationship with Mathletes president Kevin Gnapoor.
Reflecting on the relative social peace that has taken over North Shore High, Cady notices a trio of new “Junior Plastics” and imagines them being hit by a school bus. But they actually just dodge it.
