Mean Girls

One main character is queer and is depicted beyond simple stereotypes; someone mistakenly calls her "Lebanese." The student body shows more diversity than most other teen comedies of its era, including nuanced portrayals of students of different races, body types, disabilities -- e.g., Asian students, both East and South Asian, are not limited to being quiet and nerdy. But there's some awkward sexualization of two female Asian students. In ending scenes, one popular girl, who is White, ends up in the "Cool Asians" clique and is seen speaking Vietnamese.

Character shown getting hit by a bus; wears a halo brace for the rest of the movie. Exaggerated fistfights break out in high school hallways after it's revealed which insults students have thrown at each other. Statutory rape: Sex education teacher revealed to be having consensual sex with two of his students and is shown making out with one of them.

Crude humor and references intended for comedic effect. Girls call one another names like "slut" and "skank." When the mother of one of the "mean girls" walks in on her daughter and a boy kissing on a bed, she asks her whether she needs any condoms. The same mother has fake breasts; sight gags and verbal jokes are made about them. Humor in the misspelling of venereal diseases by the sex education teacher, who's later revealed to be having sex with two of his students and is shown making out with one of the students. A teen boy student asks a teen girl, "Is your muffin buttered?" Joke made referencing "sexually active band geeks." A little girl is shown watching Girls Gone Wild on TV and imitates it.

Frequent profanity and name-calling. "F---ing" used once, "f--k" used in a soundtrack song. "Motherf-----r" not quite said, but clearly implied. Gay slurs ("d--e," "queer") used. Put-downs on the order of "slut-faced ho bag," "nastiest skank bitch," "fugly slut" often used. "Bitch" used many times. "Retarded" used as an insult. "A--hole." "Damn." Character spoken of as being "half a virgin." Teen boy asks teen girl, "Is your muffin buttered?"

Underage drinking: Teen throws a party that turns into a blowout; she drinks from a bowl of spiked punch and takes shots, acts very drunk, eventually throws up as a result. The mother of one of the teens enters with a tray of what looks like tropical cocktails, then offers to put booze in them for her daughter and her friends.

Parents need to know that Mean Girls is a 2004 comedy centered on Cady (Lindsay Lohan), a new girl in a high school dominated by a clique of popular girls. Mature humor includes crude jokes, sexual references, mentions of venereal disease, underage drinking, and comic violence. Teen girls call one another names like "slut-faced ho bag," "fugly slut," and "nastiest skank bitch." The mother of one of the "mean girls" offers alcohol to her daughter and her friends, acts drunk, and offers condoms to her daughter when she walks in on her making out with a boy on her bed. The sex-ed teacher is revealed to be committing statutory rape with two students and is shown making out with a teen girl. Gay slurs are used. There's a prank involving a pregnancy test. Cady's home is taken over by partying teens while her parents are out of town. At the party, she 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's a joke about girl-girl kissing. A strength of the movie is its realistic portrayal of teen characters, including disabled, gay, and racially diverse students. Overall, it's a biting satire that doesn't shy away from some adults' hypocrisy and doesn't sugarcoat the language and behavior of teens when, mired in insecurity and feelings of inferiority, they spread terrible rumors and hurl insults, and it tries to use the story to combat and address this issue.

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