Mean Girls (2004)

Tina Fey should be a gymnast. Pitting new gal in town Lindsay Lohan against queenie meanie Rachel McAdams and her plastic minions, Fey's first script is a shrewd balancing act of sweet and sour, deft and daft dialectics. Sure, some of ' bits are played out (is another ESP-ESPN joke really neccesary?), but with goofy gags like Amy Poehler's demented wannabe mommy pushing booze on the kids, the jungle psychoanalysis of adolescents, and an ever-evolving teen vernacular (''Fetch!''), Fey's subversive wit taps into fart-induced hee-haws without wholly becoming the usual tweenybopper trifle.

EXTRAS Further highlighting Girls' subtle mastery is director Mark Waters' commentary on technical attentiveness to foreshadowing, film speeds, and layering Lindsay's hair. Yet the overflow of interviews with cast and crew gushing about their own movie gets tired fast. We understand already -- Mean Girls is so fetch!