Comprehensive information and links about Mean Girls

Mean Girls cast members, including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. Its director, Mark Waters, younger brother of writer Daniel Waters, described the movie as , which describes how female high school social cliques operate, and the effect they can have on girls.

The movie is about Cady Heron (played by Lindsay Lohan) who moves to a Chicago, Illinois suburb after being raised in Africa by her anthropologist parents; Cady's family moved there after her mother got a job at Northwestern University. The first friends she makes at her new school, North Shore High School, are Damian and Janis, two unpopular kids in the "out-crowd." She later encounters The Plastics (Regina, the Queen Bee, played by Rachel McAdams; Gretchen, played by Lacey Chabert; and Karen, played by Amanda Seyfried) at her new school - three beautiful and popular girls who invite Cady to become their friend. Initially reluctant, Cady joins the group so she can learn their dark secrets at the behest of Damian and Janis. However, when Cady falls in love with Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (played by Jonathan Bennett), Regina takes revenge by taking him back. Cady, Damian, and Janis plot together to bring Regina down and remove her of her high social status.

In an interview about the film, Fey noted, "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young girls watch it like a reality show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing" [2].

The role of Janis poked fun at many lesbian stereotypes. For example, the actress who played her, Lizzy Caplan, bore a strong resemblance to Nancy McKeon (McKeon's character on , Jo Polniaczek, has been parodied in pop culture circles for the last twenty years as being the epitome of "butch dyke"). The character's full name is Janis Ian, a nod to the lesbian singer-songwriter of the same name. While it is hinted at many times during the film that Janis is a lesbian, she is revealed to be unequivocally straight during the denouement, in which she apparently has a boyfriend. Along with several of the film's loose ends, some viewers found this resolution to be unsatisfactory and maintained that this was a "cop out" by the writers.

Though the movie was inspired by the book authored by Hayley DiMarco, was released at the same time as the movie. DiMarco had previously written and is credited with creating the Biblezine concept while at Thomas Nelson Publishers. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Tina Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School.

During the gymnasium confessional, Tim Meadows says "Who has a lady problem that they'd like to talk about?", a reference to his character "Leon Phelps" on Tina Fey admits that she was drawn to Jonathan Bennett to play Aaron Samuels because of his strong resemblence to her Saturday Night Live castmate Jimmy Fallon.Amanda Seyfried, who plays Karen in the film, originally auditioned for the role of Regina, but producer Lorne Michaels felt she may be better suited for "the dumb one."Tim Meadows broke his wrist prior to shooting the movie, so Mr. Duvall's carpal tunnel had to be written into the