Mean Girls

"Watch your back."

2004 1h 37m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 9,716

DramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.

“Watch your back.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Lindsay Lohan
Cady Heron
Rachel McAdams
Regina George
Lizzy Caplan
Janis Ian
Lacey Chabert
Gretchen Wieners
Amanda Seyfried
Karen Smith
Daniel Franzese
Damian
Jonathan Bennett
Aaron Samuels
Rajiv Surendra
Kevin Gnapoor

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mark Waters
Writers: Tina Fey
Languages: Swahili, English, German, Vietnamese
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 7.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Swahili, English, German, Vietnamese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mean Girls Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

203+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mark Waters, shot by Daryn Okada. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Rolfe Kent. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Wendy Greene Bricmont shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mark Waters directs. Daryn Okada behind the camera. Rolfe Kent scores. Wendy Greene Bricmont cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Swahili, English, German, Vietnamese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 7.7× over at the box office.
2Released 22 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Swahili, English, German, Vietnamese.
4Part of the "Mean Girls Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5203+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Mark Waters, shot by Daryn Okada. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Rolfe Kent. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Wendy Greene Bricmont shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams and Lizzy Caplan carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Watch your back.".
11IMDB entry: tt0377092 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 25 themes, including "based on novel or book", "illinois", "female friendship", "bullying".
13Released under 31 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Daryn Okada
Original score: Rolfe Kent
Editing: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Production design: Cary White
Costume design: Mary Jane Fort
Makeup / hair: Mario Cacioppo
VFX supervisor: Bryan Hirota
Sound: Patrick Cyccone Jr.
Stunt coordinator: John Stoneham Jr.
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $17,000,000
Box office: $130,195,052
Return: 766% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Mean Girls (2004)

Part of

Mean Girls Collection

Raised in African bush country by her zoologist parents, Cady Heron thinks she knows about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the home-schooled 15-year-old enters public high school for the first time and encounters psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face today.

Also by

Mark Waters

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Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-08-14
★ 8/10
I hardly ever watch contemporary American comedies in which most of the top cast are women (I still haven't seen either 'Clueless', 'Bridesmaids' or 'Heathers', for example), but recently I enjoyed 'The Devil Wears Prada', I have liked both Lindsay Lohan (especially in 'Bobby' and 'The Prairie Home Companion') and Rachel McAdams (most significantly in 'Redeye' and 'Passion'), so knowing that one of my favourite SNL comediennes, Tina Fey, both wrote and co-starred in this, made me give it a shot. It being critically lauded by some male cinephiles I trust didn't hurt matters, either. It was full of laughs and subtly got across its points about 21st-century American society and of the growing pains for young women in its high school shenanigans. 'Mean Girls' is definitely worth the trouble to find and to give a try yourself. It left me enthusiastically wishing Ms. Lohan can sort out her personal troubles and get back to acting, where she belongs.
Gimly2019-04-12
★ 9/10
Mean Girls has absolutely no business being as phenomenal as it is. None at all. If you've read many enough my reviews to get any sort of indication as to the sort of cinema I am in to, then you could be forgiven for assuming I wouldn't be a fan. After all, Mean Girls is about as far away from my wheelhouse as a movie could conceivably be. But I fucking love it. And I honestly can't tell you why. Every single piece of Mean Girls examined in isolation, is something I despise. Every trope, formula, format, cliche, device and style choice is something I have ragged on a hundred times before in different reviews, but for whatever reason, I cannot put Mean Girls down. I don't think a single year has gone by since I first saw it in the late '00s that I haven't rewatched it. Usually, multiple times a year. Inexplicable, but there it is. Final rating:★★★★½ - Ridiculously strong appeal. I can’t stop thinking about it.
r96sk2024-01-17
★ 9/10
Surprisingly a lot of fun! I wouldn't have predicted me liking <em>'Mean Girls'</em>, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. The first half is stronger than what follows and it does wrap up a bit too harmoniously, though all in all it has good intentions and is unexpectedly consistently amusing. Lindsay Lohan appears in a similar role to what I've seen elsewhere from her across this era, nevertheless she does put in a very good performance. Rachel McAdams is excellent, strangely likeable despite playing an unlikeable character. The rest of the cast are pleasant as well, e.g. Lizzy Caplan, Tina Fey and Tim Meadows. Interested to see how the sequel and remake turned out. As for this one, it's entertaining!