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When the popular “plastics” invite Cady to join their group, she is both flattered and tempted (after all, it’s every kid’s dream), but she doesn’t want to offend her new friends. So she accepts Janis’ offer to spy on them. Janis, who hates the plastic’s Queen Bee, Regina (Rachel McAdams), has a bone to pick from the 7th grade. Soon, Cady is caught in a web of deceit, even as she grows more popular with the spiteful Regina and her sycophants, shallow Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) and ditzy Karen (Amanda Seyfried). Then Cady falls for Aaron (Jonathan Bennett), Regina’s old boyfriend. Cady and Regina become arch enemies.

The film serves as an excellent satire about high school and has a distinct “Saturday Night Live” feel. SNL head writer Tina Fey penned the script, a fictional comedy based on Rosalind Wiseman’s New York Times bestseller, “Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence.” Along with SNL’s Amy Pohler as Regina’s mom, Fey stars as Ms. Norbury, Cady’s supportive math teacher. SNL veteran Anna Gasteyer also has a part (as Cady’s mom), and SNL creator Lorne Michaels is one of the producers.

Although comical for its scathing social commentary, this parody is disturbing on several levels. It strips away the veneer from high school life, revealing dirty secrets about cliques and cruelty, and how everyone – from the Asian sluts to the stoners to the geeks – are defined by their highly-stratified peer group. Damien maps out a blueprint of the cliques’ “assigned seats” in the cafeteria for Cady, and it is no wonder that the socially naïve teen compares their behavior to animals (in some funny imaginary scenes).

We also see the way that cruelty among girls has become habitual, and Wiseman’s seminars, which she hosts at schools around the country, are proof that the problem is endemic. The film points the finger at parents like Regina’s mother (Pohler), who are desperately trying to relive their own lives through their children, and thus refuse to discipline them. Equally, Cady’s parents have no clue about anything that is going on, much less what to do about it.