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Mean Girls

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 12, age appropriate for kids over 14; suggested age 14.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0
  • Common Sense says

    Mature but often-hilarious teen comedy.

Themes in this movie include:   friendship, growing up, peer pressure
updated 10.02.09

Why We Rated This on for Ages 14 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    Ultimately the message is that popularity isn't everything and that girls need to support each other, not tear each other down.
  • Role models:

    Diverse characters, including disabled and gay characters.The mean girls do get pretty mean -- but they also learn their lesson.

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    Comic violence, including injuries.
  • Sex:

    Crude humor and sexual references.
  • Language:

    Strong language for a PG-13.
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Underage drinking (with vomiting as a consequence).

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Mean Girls was written by Nell Minow

Parents need to know this movie has some mature material for a PG-13, including crude humor, sexual references, underage drinking, and comic violence. There is a prank involving a pregnancy test. Cady allows her home to be taken over by partying teens, gets drunk, and throws up. A child watches "Girls Gone Wild" and imitates it. A girl refers to herself as "half a virgin" and there is a joke about girl-girl kissing. A strength of the movie is its positive portrayal of diverse characters, including disabled, gay, and minority students.

Families Can Talk About

Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
  • Families can talk about how the elements that determine status for teenagers are different from those that determine status in the adult world, at work, and with friends and family.
  • Use this movie to begin a discussion about the way that the girls they know treat each other, and what they can do to encourage them to be kinder and more supportive.
  • Ask kids if they know any "mean girls." How do they deal with them?
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More on Mean Girls

What’s the Story?

Queen Bees and Wannabes, a non-fiction book by Rosalind Wiseman about alpha girls and the impact they have on everyone else, has been adapted by Saturday Night Live head writer (and Weekend Update anchor) Tina Fey into a movie about a girl who takes on a ruling clique. Previously homeschooled by her zoologist parents while living in Africa, Cady (Lindsay Lohan) moves to Evanston, Illinois and attends high school. Cady finds herself having a hard time understanding the social norms in the school, and is drawn to the "the Plastics," the most popular clique in the school.

Is It Any Good?

Screenwriter Tina Fey, who appears as a sympathetic teacher, has a good sense of how girls like Regina operate to establish their domination, appearing to be sweet and supportive but in reality being competitive, duplicitous and manipulative, and always surrounding themselves with people who will add to their power and not challenge them. And Fey's superb sense of comedy gives the script has some biting humor. Her Saturday Night Live colleagues lend support to the cast, with Tim Meadows as the school principal, Ana Gasteyer as Cady's mother, and Amy Poehler superb as Regina's mother, who insists, "I'm not like a regular mom; I'm a cool mom!"

There is much that is fresh and sharp in this movie. But it has an uncertain hold on its plot and ends up pulling some of its punches and throwing in teen comedy clichés we have seen endlessly in dozens of movies that all blur together.

Movie Details

Studio: Paramount Pictures, Director: Mark Waters
Run time: 95 minutes
Theatrical release: 4/30/2004, DVD release: 9/21/2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Sexual content, language and some teen partying

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Our Members Say

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages
    • Good role models

    i lvoe this movie, but it would be awkward to watch it with family.

  2. Kid Reviewer Age 11
    I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Negative role models
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

  3. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it 4.0

  4. I rate this title on for age 12 and give it 5.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages
    • Good role models

    Hahahaha Hilarious!

    This is the funniest ever! My sister and I quote it all the time, and we are not the only ones! Everyone loves this movie! The mean girls are complete bimbos (*cough* Karen! *cough*) and extremely destructive (*cough* Regina! *cough*) but in the end they become nice due to everything that happens. It's not educational but in the way of cliques it is! I was also laughing through this whole movie; well done! The movie business should do something as funny and unforgettable as this one!!

  5. Kid Reviewer Age 10
    I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

    BEST TEEN MOVIE EVER!!!

    One of the best teen movies in the universe! Most teen movies are usually just plain bad, but this movie is a laugh, cool, and very good!!

  6. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    Lives in Indiana
    I rate this title on for age 13 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Negative role models

    I LOVE this movie!! This movie is very funny and I think any tween or teen would like this movie.

  7. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    Lives in Indiana
    I rate this title on for age 13 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Negative role models

    I LOVE this movie!! This movie is very funny and I think any tween or teen would like this movie.

  8. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    Lives in Missouri
    I rate this title on for age 13 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Negative role models

    Good Movie

    I think it was a funny movie.. Idk what everybody else thinks but this is something that younger teens like... and they dont like to be treated like a baby and have to watch G rated films.

  9. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    Lives in Massachusetts
    I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use
    • Negative role models
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

  10. Kid Reviewer Age 11
    I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 1.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use

    hate it

  11. Kid Reviewer Age 11
    I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

    Mean girls are good!

    the language isn't that bad, they use words like s-ut, b--ch, h-o, wh-re, ska-k, and f-gly. It is very funny though.

  12. Kid Reviewer Age 10
    I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate language
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

    mean girls- okay?

    okay.

  13. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it 3.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use
    • Negative message
    • Negative role models

    Perfect for elder teens.

    A good movie! A lot of dirty dancing and sexual references.

  14. Adult Reviewer
    I rate this title on for age 12 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages
    • Good role models

  15. I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use

    hilarious

    this movie is soo funny but definatley not appropriate for age 8 and under

  16. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 4.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Good role models

    hilarous

    i love this movie but they say btch a lot but your kid probly hears it at school anyway

  17. I rate this title iffy for age 14 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Drinking, smoking, or drug use

    this movie is very funny with a little innopropriate parts.

  18. Teen Reviewer Age 15
    Lives in Florida
    I rate this title on for age 15 and give it 4.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content

    Great Movie!

    This was an awesome movie! Definitely one of my favorites! Although I was shocked at the references they had, I still thought it was a very good movie.

  19. Teen Reviewer Age 13
    Lives in Colorado
    I rate this title on for age 13 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Negative message
    • Negative role models

    HE HE

    I LOVED THIS MOVIE! Perfect chick flick to watch with some girlfriends at a slumber PART-A! The worst thing about it is the language they use s***, B****, and more, you see people making out, some times only in their underwear, good message at the end, funny, but for most of the movie the messages and role models are bad. But it's a movie people, no one watches a movie for good role models and stuff, they watch it for entertainment, which this movie provides plenty of! HA HA. Loved it!

  20. Teen Reviewer Age 16
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 5.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Negative role models

    lovez it

    OMG I LOVE THIS MOVIE ITS THE BEST EVERRR. something to get the girls toghter and watch or your mum. a few offensive refrences and a bit of kissing and sex.

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