# Mean Girls (2004 film)

Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film about a girl who is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for the ex-boyfriend of the alpha Plastic.
    Directed by Mark Waters. Written by Tina Fey, based on the book Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman.

## Cady Heron

* [voice-over] Cool Asians, Varsity Jocks, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, Girls Who Don't Eat Anything, Desperate Wannabes, Burn-outs, Sexually Active Band Geeks, The Greatest People You Will Ever Meet. And the worst... Beware of The Plastics.
* [voice-over] Having lunch with The Plastics was like leaving the Actual World and entering Girl World. And Girl World had a lot of rules.
* [voice-over] In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.
* [voice-over] Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.

## Gretchen Wieners

* Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet? What's so great about Caesar? Hm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that's not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar!

## Janis

* Where you sit in the cafeteria is crucial because you got everybody there. You got your Freshmen, ROTC Guys, Preps, JV Jocks, Asian Nerds, Cool Asians, Varsity Jocks, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, Girls Who Don't Eat Anything, Desperate Wannabes, Burnouts, Sexually Active Band Geeks, The Greatest People You Will Ever Meet, and The Worst. Beware of The Plastics.
* This is Damian: he's almost too gay to function.

## Regina George

* This girl is the nastiest skank bitch I've ever met! Do not trust her! She is a fugly slut!!

## Principal Ron Duvall

* Hell, no; I did not leave the south side for this!
* ALL JUNIOR GIRLS REPORT TO THE GYMNASIUM IMMEDIATELY!! IMMEDIATELY!!!
* Never in my 14 years as an educator have I seen such vicious, reckless and violent behavior. And from young ladies. I got parents calling me on the phone asking, "Did someone get shot?" I oughta cancel your spring fling! But I can tell that from the looks on your faces, you'd be very upset. Well, I'm not gonna do that because we've already paid the DJ. So you can all relax. But don't think for one second that I am not taking this burn book seriously!! Coach Carr has fled school property, and is nowhere to be seen or found. Miss Norbury's been accused of selling drugs, and could be sentenced to life in prison. Now what these young ladies in this grade need is an attitude makeover. And you're gonna get it. Right now. I don't care how long it takes; I will keep you here all night, if I have to!

## Dialogue

    Janis: That one there, that's Karen Smith. She is one of the dumbest girls you will ever meet. Damian sat next to her in English last year.
    Damian: She asked me how to spell "orange".
    [Cady snickers]
    Janis: And that little one? That's Gretchen Wieners.
    Damian: She's totally rich because her dad invented Toaster Strudel.
    Janis: Gretchen Wieners knows everybody's business. She knows everything about everyone.
    Damian: That's why her hair is so big. It's full of secrets.
    Janis: And evil takes a human form in Regina George. Don't be fooled, because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing, slut-faced ho-bag. But in reality, she is so much more than that.
    Damian: She's the queen bee. The star. Those other two are just her little workers.
    Janis: Regina George... How do I even begin to explain Regina George?
    Emma Gerber: Regina George is flawless.
    Lea Edwards: She has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus.
    Mathlete Tim Pak: I hear her hair's insured for $10,000.
    Amber D'Alessio: I hear she does car commercials... in Japan.
    Kristen Hadley: Her favorite movie is Varsity Blues.
    Short girl: One time, she met John Stamos on a plane.
    Jessica Lopez: And he told her she was pretty.
    Bethany Byrd: One time, she punched me in the face. It was awesome!
    Damian: [about Regina] She always looks fierce. She always wins Spring Fling Queen.
    Janis: Who cares?
    Damian: I care. Every year, the seniors throw this dance for the underclassmen called The Spring Fling. And whomsoever is elected Spring Fling King and Queen automatically becomes head of the Student Activities Committee. And since I am an active member of the Student Activities Committee, I would say, yeah, I care.
    Janis: Wow, Damian, you've truly out-gayed yourself.
    Regina: You're, like, really pretty!
    Cady: Thank you!
    Regina: So you agree?
    Cady: What?
    Regina: You think you're really pretty.
    Gretchen: Well, I mean, you wouldn't buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you.
    Cady: I wouldn't?
    Gretchen: Right. Oh, and it's the same with guys. Like, you may think you like someone, but you could be wrong.
    Karen: Hold on. [presses a button on her phone] Oh, my God. She's so annoying.
    Gretchen: Who is?
    Karen: Who's this?
    Gretchen: Gretchen.
    Karen: Right. Hold on. [presses another button; to Regina] Oh, my God, she's so annoying.
    Regina: I know! Just get rid of her.
    Karen: [to Gretchen] Okay. What is it?
    Gretchen: Regina says everyone hates you because you're such a slut.
    Karen: She said that?
    Gretchen: You didn't hear it from me.
    Cady: Little harsh, Gretch.
    Gretchen: Whatever, she has a right to know.
    Karen: [to Regina] I can't go out. [fake cough] I'm sick.
    Regina: [sarcastically] Boo, you whore. [hangs up; Karen gapes in shock]
    Cady: [voice-over] The weird thing about hanging out with Regina was that I could hate her, and at the same time, I still wanted her to like me.
    Regina: OK. You have really good eyebrows.
    Cady: Thanks.
    Regina: [pushing Gretchen] Move.
    Cady: [voice-over] Same with Gretchen. The meaner Regina was to her, the more Gretchen tried to win Regina back. She knew it was better to be in The Plastics, hating life, than to not be in at all. Because being with The Plastics was like being famous. People looked at you all the time, and everybody just knew stuff about you.
    Short girl: That new girl moved here from Africa.
    Bethany Byrd: I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip-flops, so I bought army pants and flip-flops.
    Jason: That Cady girl is hot. She might even be hotter than Regina George.
    Mr. Duvall: I hear Regina George is dating Aaron Samuels again. The two were seen canoodling at Chris Eisel's Halloween party. They've been inseparable ever since.
    Cady: [voice-over] I was a woman possessed. I spent about 80 percent of my time talking about Regina. And the other 20 percent of the time, I was praying for someone else to bring her up so I could talk about her more. [out loud] She's not even that good-looking if you really look at her.
    Janis: I don't know. Now that's she's getting fatter, she's got pretty big jugs.
    Cady: [voice-over] I could hear people getting bored with me. But I couldn't stop. It just kept coming up like word vomit. [out loud] I have this theory that if you cut all her hair off, she'd look like a British man.
    Janis: Yeah, I know. You told me that one before.
    [After being dumped by Aaron, Regina is crying and holding hands with Gretchen and Karen in her bedroom]
    Karen: Did he say why?
    Regina: [sniffling] Somebody told him about Shane Oman.
    Gretchen: Who?
    Regina: He said some guy on the baseball team.
    Karen: Baseball team?
    Regina: I gave him everything. I was half a virgin when I met him.
    Karen: You wanna do something fun? You wanna go to Taco Bell?
    Regina: I can't go to Taco Bell, I'm on an all-carb diet! God, Karen, you are so stupid! [stomps off]
    Gretchen: Regina, wait! Talk to me! [goes after Regina]
    Regina: Nobody understands me.
    Gretchen: I understand you.
    Cady: You're not stupid, Karen.
    Karen: No. I am, actually. I'm failing almost everything.
    Cady: Well, there must be something you're good at.
    Karen: I can put my whole fist in my mouth. Wanna see?
    Cady: No. That's OK. Anything else?
    Karen: I'm kind of psychic. I have a fifth sense.
    Cady: What do you mean?
    Karen: It's like I have ESPN or something. My breasts can always tell when it's gonna rain.
    Cady: Really? That's amazing.
    Karen: Well, they can tell when it's raining.
    Janis: You dirty little liar!
    Cady: I'm sorry. I can explain...
    Janis: Explain how you forgot to invite us to your party?!
    Damian: Janis, I cannot stop this car; I have a curfew at 1 a.m.
    Cady: You know I couldn't invite you. I had to pretend to be Plastic.
    Janis: Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're Plastic. Cold, shiny, hard Plastic!
    Damian: Curfew, 1 a.m. It is now 1:10.
    Janis: By the way, did you have an awesome time? Did you drink awesome shooters and listen to awesome music, and then just sit around and soak up each other's awesomeness?
    Cady: You know, you're the one who made me like this so you could use me for your eighth-grade revenge!
    Janis: God! See, at least me and Regina George know we're mean. You try to act like you're so innocent. Like, "Oh, I used to live in Africa with all the little birdies and the little monkeys."
    Cady: You know what? It's not my fault you're like in love with me or something!
    Janis: What?!!
    Damian: Oh, no, she did not!
    Janis: See? That is the thing with you Plastics. You think that everybody is in love with you, when actually, everybody hates you! Like Aaron Samuels, for example: he broke up with Regina and guess what? He still doesn't want you! So why are you still messing with Regina, Cady? I'll tell you why. Because you are a mean girl! You're a bitch!! Here. You can have this. It won a prize.
    Damian: And I want my pink shirt back! You hear me?!! I want my pink shirt back!!
    Shane Oman: Why are you eating a Kalteen bar?
    Regina: I'm starving.
    Shane Oman: Man, I hate those things. Coach Carr makes us eat those when we want to move up a weight class.
    Regina: What?!
    Shane Oman: They make you gain weight like crazy.
    [Regina is horrified and enraged, realizing Cady had duped her]
    Regina: Mother-! [she spits out the bite of the bar that she was chewing, and then screams in a fit of rage for nonstop without taking a breath, to the point where Shane nervously backs up, and then runs away. She doesn't stop screaming, even after he's gone]
    Cady: [after humiliating Regina] Regina, wait! I didn't mean for that to happen!
    Regina: To find out that everyone hates me? I don't care!
    Cady: Regina, please! Regina, stop!
    Regina: [turns to Cady and walks toward her] No! Do you know what everyone says about you? They say that you're a home-schooled jungle freak, who's a less hot version of me! Yeah! So don't try to act so innocent! You can take that fake apology and shove it right up your hairy— [gets hit by a bus]
    Cady: [voice-over] And that's how Regina George died. No, I'm totally kidding. But she did get hurt. Some girls say they saw her head go all the way around. But that's just a rumor. Some people swear they saw me push her in front of the bus. That was an even worse rumor.
    [deleted scene; Cady is frowned upon]
    Cady: [voice-over] I couldn't apologize to Ms. Norbury without getting blamed for the whole burn book. And then, she said it. The worst thing you could hear from any adult.
    Sharon Norbury: [alarmed] Your parents have been eaten by cannibals!
    Cady: [voice-over] Okay, the second worst.
    Sharon Norbury: I'm really disappointed in you, Cady.
    Cady: So are we still in a fight?
    Janis: Are you still an asshole?
    Cady: I don't think so.
    Janis: Well, then I guess we're OK.

## Taglines

* Welcome to Girl World.
* This winter, be part of the in-crowd. (Selected tagline)
* Only the strong survive!
* Watch your back: They're your friends.
* Beware of the plastics.

## About Mean Girls

* Interestingly, American Pie failed to spawn a new trend of feel-good teen comedies, largely because they're just not believable. The best teens can get are compromise movies like 2004's Mean Girls, a comedy about the nasty popular girls in a high school, whose happy resolution only comes after a violent accident.
** Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 232
* Will teenage audiences walk out of "Mean Girls" determined to break with the culture of cliques, gossip and rules for popularity? Not a chance. That's built into high school, I think. But they may find it interesting that the geeks are more fun than the queen bees, that teachers have feelings, and that you'll be happier as yourself than as anybody else. I guess the message is, you have to live every day as if you might suddenly be hit by a school bus.
** Roger Ebert, in his 30 March 2004 review of Mean Girls. He rated the movie 3 stars out of a possible 4.

## Cast

* Lindsay Lohan – Cady Heron
* Rachel McAdams – Regina George
* Tina Fey – Ms. Norbury
* Tim Meadows – Mr. Duvall
* Amy Poehler – Mrs. George
* Ana Gasteyer – Cady's mom
* Lacey Chabert – Gretchen Wieners
* Lizzy Caplan – Janis Ian
* Daniel Franzese – Damian
* Neil Flynn – Cady's dad
* Jonathan Bennett – Aaron Samuels
* Amanda Seyfried – Karen Smith

## External links

* Mean Girls quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Mean Girls at Rotten Tomatoes
* June 3, 2004 revised draft screenplay at Dailyscript
Mean Girls franchise :
| Films | Mean Girls (2004) · Mean Girls 2 (2011) · Mean Girls (2024) |
| Musicals | Mean Girls |
| Soundtracks | Mean Girls |