Oh, You Girls Keep Me Young. I Love Ya So Much...

Hard as it may be to believe, but fetch has been trying to happen for 10 years now. (And part of me thinks that Gretchen Wieners still won't let it go.) But even though Cady Heron and the Plastics have only been in the cultural lexicon for a decade, it's kinda hard for me to imagine a time that Mean Girls wasn't apart of my everyday life. After being skeptical about seeing it in the theater, my friends and I became a little obsessed with it. My friend bought a bootleg copy of it from a guy on the subway and we watched it almost once a day. (We had just graduated college and had a lot of free time on our hands...) And re-watching it last night for the umpteenth time, I found it as funny as ever and still infinitely quotable. So in celebration of the film, Nathaniel at The Film Experience has chosen it as this week's film for Hit Me With Your Best Shot. So get in loser, we're going 'Shot-ing'.

Regina George is flawless. We all know that. And Rachel McAdams' portrayal of the Queen Bee is pretty amazing. But the film is filled with high quality comedic work from every single one of the supporting cast. Tina Fey being...Liz Lemon Tina Fey. (Okay, so she doesn't have a lot of range, but she's still damn funny.) Lizzy Caplan almost unrecognizable as Janis Ian. Amanda Seyfried as the dumbest girl you'll ever meet, Karen Smith is a ditzy delight. And now that she does such serious work, I wish she could do another film that shows off her comedic chops. (No, A Million Ways To Die In the West this summer does not count. I have a feeling Seth MacFarlane will be too busy trying to impress us with his wit to allow anyone else to be funny.) It's also fascinating that of all the young actresses from the film, Seyfried is arguably the one having the best career. McAdams never seemed to live up to her potential and let's not even start with Lindsay...But the character I seemed to focus on the most during last night's viewing was Amy Poehler as Regina's "cool" mom.

From the moment we see her in her pink Juicy Couture velour sweatsuit and her Chihuahua in a feather boa, we already familiar with this Paris Hilton-wannabe. Predating the Real Housewives by a couple years, she is the prototype of every single one of those catty bitches. And make sure you check out her boob job–they're hard as rocks:

But for all her liberal supplies of condoms and alcohol to minors, my favorite thing about Mrs. George is the way she's always trying to upstage Regina. Sure, she loves her daughter. But if she had it her way, she would be the young, beautiful one in the spotlight. Like during the Holiday Talent Show:

And in my choice for Best Shot when she sneaks her way into Regina's Spring Fling photo:

I love that with that backdrop, purple lighting, and awkward pose this already has the authentic feel of every high school dance picture that's been taken in gymnasiums since 1983. But with Regina in her spinal brace decorated with flowers, it almost takes on a macabre, Diane Arbus feel to it. 

But it's Poehler clamoring for attention in the background that nail it for me. I had almost forgotten about this part of the film and literally LOL'd when I saw it as if it had been the first time. Poehler just knows this character. She was probably the most popular girl in high school, just like Regina, but that's when she hit her peak and everyday is a scramble to relive that former glory. And now she can through her daughter. It would all be tragically pathetic if Amy Poehler weren't so effortlessly hilarious.