I know what you’re thinking: “What’s a fat geek like you watching Mean Girls?” And you’re absolutely right. I thought it was going to suck too. Another teen comedy. Another Lindsay Lohan sugary chick movie. Why the eff would I watch that?
Well, dear Reader, I was in error. Mean Girls is actually a very good teen comedy. It has great pacing; none of the gags are taken too far or too long and it treats the subject matter with some respect. Not having a vagina, I can’t say that I experienced high school as a teenage girl. But I did watch them – boy, did I watch them – and I can say that the movie gets the tone right: the desperation to fit in and the lengths to which one goes to do so. Even at the inevitable dance with the inevitable speech, the movie is self-aware enough to poke fun at itself. So it’s well-written and well-acted, but that’s not why I recommend it.
I’ve watched tons of movies: enough movies that I can predict what things will happen, when they’ll happen and to whom they’ll happen. With comedies it’s especially hard to surprise me and make me laugh, but this movie did it with one line and Tim Meadows’ reaction to it. I laughed so hard tears streamed down my face and my face hurt from laughing so much. That’s why I recommend it.