Clueless meets Heathers?
Title: Mean Girls
Year: 2004
Director: Mark S. Waters
Writers: Rosalind Wiseman, Tina Fey
My Take: This film starts with an excellent hook - a home schooled girl's first day of high school. That's instant comedy material and the film has some extremely funny moments. Her voice over explanation of why she was home schooled was a great little segment, particularly the gun-totting bible thumpers. That reminded me of something out of a classic Christopher Guest comedy.
Lindsay Lohan as the lead, is sweet, believable, and quite easy on the eyes. I'm allowed to say that, right? I mean, she's 18 now. She ultimately saves this movie for me, because without someone so believably naive and kind-hearted, the film would have fallen flat. The comedy was uneven, the antagonists never hinted at any goodness, and many of the reactions other students had to the actions of the central characters were unbelievable. But I spent much of the time watching this laughing at Tina Fey and Tim Meadows and the "uncool kids" that Lindsay's character befriends. This often felt like a Saturday Night Live skit, which makes sense since Lorne Michaels produced and Tina Fey was one of the writers.
Verdict: This ultimately fell far short of Heathers as a dark teen comedy and I can't say I was more than a little disappointed when I realized that Mark S. Waters also directed the brilliant House of Yes, which he's never followed up with another dark independent comedy choosing instead to direct a string of light teen girl comedies. Oh well.
Year: 2004
Director: Mark S. Waters
Writers: Rosalind Wiseman, Tina Fey
My Take: This film starts with an excellent hook - a home schooled girl's first day of high school. That's instant comedy material and the film has some extremely funny moments. Her voice over explanation of why she was home schooled was a great little segment, particularly the gun-totting bible thumpers. That reminded me of something out of a classic Christopher Guest comedy.
Lindsay Lohan as the lead, is sweet, believable, and quite easy on the eyes. I'm allowed to say that, right? I mean, she's 18 now. She ultimately saves this movie for me, because without someone so believably naive and kind-hearted, the film would have fallen flat. The comedy was uneven, the antagonists never hinted at any goodness, and many of the reactions other students had to the actions of the central characters were unbelievable. But I spent much of the time watching this laughing at Tina Fey and Tim Meadows and the "uncool kids" that Lindsay's character befriends. This often felt like a Saturday Night Live skit, which makes sense since Lorne Michaels produced and Tina Fey was one of the writers.
Verdict: This ultimately fell far short of Heathers as a dark teen comedy and I can't say I was more than a little disappointed when I realized that Mark S. Waters also directed the brilliant House of Yes, which he's never followed up with another dark independent comedy choosing instead to direct a string of light teen girl comedies. Oh well.
posted by Hairy Lime at 10:46 AM
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