I’ve been trying to watch more movies lately, especially older ones that I have missed. There were many, many years where I barely went to the movies at all, so when I got my Amazon Prime account, with their streaming videos, I’ve tried to take advantage of it. I also like movies based on books and try to look for the book whenever possible.

So I watched the movie Mean Girls, starring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Tina Fey. I’ve always loved movies about high school – helps me remember my youth. 😉 The story follows Lohan’s character, Cady, who is entering public high school for the first time, after living and being home schooled in Africa with her parents. She is immediately assaulted by all the crazy drama that is the American high school and is adopted by two quirky classmates, Janice and Damien, who give her a run down of how to survive. Rule number one: avoid the Plastics, the most popular clique in the school, led by McAdams’ character, Regina. Cady is surprised when the Plastics reach out to her and invite her into their group. Janice immediately hatches a plan to use Cady to spy on the Plastics and find a way to bring them down. The problem is, Cady pretends so much to be one of the Mean Girls, she accidentally becomes one.

Watching Lindsay Lohan in this was a little sad. It’s a shame she’s had so many problems over the past few years. She was so adorable in this. The whole cast was great.

The movie was based on the book Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. When I went to look for it at the library, I was surprised that it was non-fiction. This is not an adaptation – Wiseman’s book is about teenage girls and how to help them navigate through the trials of adolescence. She goes into the psychology of what’s going through the heads of teen and pre-teen girls. Since I will have a pre-teen girl in four or five years (oh God), this book was really good to read. It gives me some idea of what to expect and reminded me of what my years in school were like.

I definitely recommend both, one for a light hearted good time, and the other for something deeper to really think about.