Of the dozens of movies that have tried to capture the high school experience of students on the outside looking in, none did it with quite the humor, relatability and moxie — and the pitch-perfect depiction of the Queen Bee battles among teenage girls — as 2004’s Mean Girls. With six years of writing for Saturday Night Live under her belt, SNL cast memberTina Fey was already making waves in the comedy world when she produced a script brimming with quotable lines, all delivered with just the right amount of bite by a cast of young actors clearly on their way to great Hollywood careers. In 2024, the musical version of the movie will hit the big screen, reviving the allure of The Plastics and every group with its own cafeteria table. To celebrate the film’s 20-year anniversary, Mean Girls: The Unofficial Yearbook looks back at the making of this enduring franchise and the stars who emerged from it.
MEAN GIRLS
WHY WE LOVE MEAN GIRLS • A LOT OF KINDNESS AND A BROKEN TIARA FAIRY TALE CURSES NEED A TRUE LOVE’S KISS TO BREAK, BUT IN THIS HIGH SCHOOL FANTASY, ALL IT TAKES TO SHAKE THINGS UP I S A LITTLE BIT OF SELF-REFLECTION,
NEW MEAT, COMING THROUGH • SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SCRIBE TINA FEY COMBINED ELEMENTS OF HER OWN TEENAGE PAST WITH TIPS FROM A PARENTING GUIDE TO CREATE A CULT CLASSIC
GREETINGS FROM THE NORTH SHORE • THE ACTORS IN MEAN GIRLS HAVE GRADUATED TO A WIDE VARIETY OF ROLES
PLASTIC FANTASTIC • THE QUOTES, THE FASHIONS, THE SONGS — THE REACH OF THE ORIGINAL FILM CONTINUES TO PERMEATE POP CULTURE
MAKING MORE MEAN GIRLS • FOR AS LONG AS GRETCHEN HAS BEEN TRYING TO MAKE "FETCH" HAPPEN, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE SEQUELS AND SPINOFFS HAPPEN
SOMETHING ABOUT THEM CLIQUES • IF THE PLASTICS AREN’T FOR YOU, THERE ARE PLENTY OF MOVIE MOBS AND TV TRIBES READY TO ACCEPT YOU
THE RETURN OF THE QUEENS • WHILE A NEW GENERATION HITS THE BIG SCREEN IN MUSICAL MOVIE MEAN GIRLS, THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORIGINAL FILM HOLDS THE PROMISE OF A VERY FETCH REUNION
GET TO KNOW: ALLISON WINN • THE ACTOR REVEALS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO PLAY CAROLINE CRAFFT IN THE 2024 MEAN GIRLS MOVIE
Mean Girls - The Unofficial Yearbook
PHOTO CREDITS