Mean Girls

It was a book that became a movie that became a phenomenon. Tackling high school cliques with an absurdist comedic edge, 2004's Mean Girls stars Lindsay Lohan on her first day of high school as a young woman homeschooled up until that point. After making a couple of new outcast friends (Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese), Cady (Lohan) is noticed by the popular mean girls (Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried) who invite her to join them.

Joining initially to take down the Plastics, Cady soon becomes enamored with them and is pulled into the cult having their worst aspects rub off on the naive teen who is soon backtalking and backstabbing with the best of them, even going so far as to try and steal the group from Regina (McAdams). Of course everything ends on a positive note with the mean girls all learning their lesson (which provides a nice lesson, if a somewhat toothless ending to an otherwise prickly comedy that enjoys drawing the blood of its young stars).

Adapted by Tina Fey, who also had a supporting role as one of the high school teachers, Mean Girls was both a critical and box office success as well as a pop-culture phenomenon spanning all types of merchandise, imitators, a sequel, and eventually a Broadway musical (also made into film), while becoming the most quotable movie of its period.

While I may personally prefer the high school craziness of Heathers, Clueless, or the 80s John Hughes films, it's impossible to ignore the cultural impact Mean Girls had. The film helped cement Lohan as a bankable young star, while also boosting the profiles of both McAdams and Caplan. And Seyfried made an immediate mark in her first on-screen role (having beat out the likes of Leighton Meester, Haylie Duff, Kate Mara, Megan Fox and Ashley Tisdale for the role of Karen).

Having been released several times previously on DVD and Blu-ray, the new 4K includes a digital copy of the movie, commentary from Fey, producer Lorne Michaels, and director Mark Waters, a blooper reel, featurettes, and deleted scenes.

• Title: Mean Girls
• IMDb: link