Pun Salad

I remember watching the original Mean Girls movie back in … whoa, was it that long ago? Yup, 2004. Pre-blog, so I only have my memory to fall back on, but I think I liked it. Apparently Tina Fey turned it into a Broadway musical, and that musical was turned into a movie, and now … here it is, a free-to-me-with-prepended-ads streamer on Paramount+.

And let me just make my perennial observation: I love Tina Fey. And when I say "love", I mean in a way that's completely inappropriate, given our age difference, her marital status, our incompatible social circles, probable vastly divergent political views, geographical separation, and a host of additional irreconcilable differences.

Way to go, Jeff Richmond.

Anyway, it's about Cady Heron, a smart student thrust into a generic American high school. Up until now, she's been schooled by her mom in Kenya (holy crap, that's Pam from The Office, I finally realized). But (fortunately?) her African zoological experience allows her to analyze the social dynamics of her classmates. Queen bee is Regina, the meanest of the mean girls, keeping her position through ruthless intimidation and gossip.

Cady inveigles her way into Regina's inner group. To complicate things, she develops feelings for her calculus classmate, Aaron. Who is Regina's discarded boyfriend. Trouble is brewing there.

Cady's pretty good at navigating the treacherous high school waters, but eventually Loses Sight of What's Really Important, giving rise to betrayal and comeuppance. Her fall is as meteoric as her rise was exponential (calc reference there, sorry). But is there still time for repentance and redemption? Come on, it's a comedy, sure there is.

And there's a lot of singing and dancing along the way. Huge production numbers, occasionally clever lyrics. Lindsay Lohan (the 2004 Cady) and Jon Hamm have cameos.