'Mean Girls' hovers in this teen netherworld that exists between completely banal Hillary Duff movies and movies of substance in the John Hughes mold. It's a movie that you can't really label "bad" or "stupid," but it's not exactly "great" or altogether "intelligent."

The script by SNL scribe Tina Fey is full of enough surprises and sharp comedic jabs to keep the movie flowing nicely. But this movie kind of seems like the rough draft of a script that could have been excellent in every imaginable way if the screenwriter hadn't been hampered by tried movie cliches and a PG or PG13 rating. But as a screenplay debut by Tina Fey it's pretty strong. I don't want to say that there's a new "voice" in Hollywood, but I'm really curious to see where Tina Fey goes with her script writing.

Lindsay Lohan is really turning out to be an emerging talent. She has none of Hillary Duff's "born on a Disney soundstage so it affects every aspect of my acting" annoyances. I don't want to say that she's at Charlize Theron or even Keisha Castle-Hughes acting level, but there is no denying that she is a talented young actress. I can really imagine her having a career that's similar to Christina Ricci's. Like Tina Fey, I'm curious to see what choices she makes from here on out.

-side note-

One of the reasons why I like Lindsay Lohan as an actor is that she's doing exactly what she needs to be doing for her age. Although I like a great child actor as much as the next person, I generally think that for the most part, child actors should be making child movies. And teen actors should be making teen movies. But with that, I always respect an actor for doing both. It seems to me, that actors who play for their age have had the better careers overall. Christina Ricci was a child actress so she made movies for her age group. And you can trace that all the way from 'The Addams Family' movies to 'Gold Diggers' to 'Casper' to 'That Darn Cat.' But she also was afforded to star in movies like 'Mermaids' and 'The Ice Storm.' Look at Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood for further proof. Whereas someone like Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning who only star in movies for adults, tend to have a quicker burn out ratio. But they're both still young, so we'll see.

-side note over-

'Mean Girls' made me hate high school even more now then when I was actually in high school. For real. If criminal psychologists ever want to find out some of the reasons why Columbine happened, just look at 'Mean Girls' for clues. 'Mean Girls' did a fantastic job at pointing out the inner workings of high school cliques, and how those social cliques can lead to both verbal and physically violent behavior.

But of course, 'Mean Girls' is a comedy, and this movie had more than it's fair share of laughs. And I don't mean of the slightly chuckling variety, but of the laughing out loud variety. Tina Fey certainly has a strong comedic sense of what works and what doesn't work. If you like Tina Fey on SNL's "Weekend Update" then the chances are high that you're going to like her script.

-side note 2-

And I think I've finally found out the best way for SNL alumns to succeed post SNL. Since this movie had 4 SNL alums starring in it (Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Anna Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler), I've discovered that the key to making a successful post-SNL career is to surround yourself with as many of your cohorts as possible. As bad as SNL can be sometimes, no one can deny that the people on that show obviously have talent or they wouldn't be where they are. So obviously it makes sense to just surround yourself with as many of your former castmates as possible. 'Ghostbusters' had Bill Murray, Dan Aykroid (from SNL) and Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis (from SCTV). I guess I'll test this theory further this summer when Will Ferrell's "Anchorman" comes out seeing how it has Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, and Chris Parnell in it. If they screw up that movie, which also has Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Phil Rudd, and Steve Carrell in it, then it'd be the equivalent of the original Team USA Dream Team losing their final basketball game to a team like Cambodia.

-side note 2 over-

Overall, I'd recommend 'Mean Girls' to just about anyone. The movie's central theme is probably universal to everyone since it shows that no matter how popular or un-popular your clique is, chances are your clique made everyone else's life a living hell. Wasn't high school great?

matt out