| Genre: | Teen comedy |
| Director: | Melanie Mayron |
| Music: | Transcenders |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Producer: | George Engel |
| Editor: | Michael Jablow |
| Cinematography: | Levie Isaacks |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Network: | ABC Family |
| Related: | Mean Girls |
Mean Girls 2 is a 2011 American teen comedy television film directed by Melanie Mayron and written by Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser, and Allison Schroeder. It is a sequel to the 2004 film Mean Girls.
The film stars Meaghan Martin, Maiara Walsh, Jennifer Stone, Nicole Gale Anderson, Claire Holt, Diego Boneta, and Linden Ashby. Tim Meadows reprises his role as the principal Ron Duvall.[1]
It premiered on January 23, 2011 on ABC Family, and was released on DVD on February 1 by Paramount Home Entertainment. It was the last film produced by Paramount Famous Productions, a direct-to-video entertainment division of Paramount Pictures.
Jo Mitchell attends North Shore High School in Ohio, hoping to attend Carnegie Mellon, her late mother's alma mater. On her first day, she encounters a clique called "The Plastics", composed of leader Mandi Weatherly, ditzy Chastity Meyer, and hypochondriac Hope Plotkin. Jo befriends Mandi's rival Abby Hanover and they become embroiled in a prank war.
Jo's father is a mechanic who rebuilds engines for NASCAR. As a result, she is a good mechanic and takes an advanced shop class, where she develops a crush on a boy named Tyler.
Jo gives Abby a ride home on her Vespa. She meets Abby's father, a successful entrepreneur, who offers to pay Jo's college tuition in exchange for friendship with Abby. Jo reluctantly accepts, motivated by her desire to attend Carnegie Mellon. Jo, Tyler and Abby become close friends, along with a journalist named Quinn Shinn, who has become obsessed with the Plastics ever since she came to high school.
Tyler takes Jo on a date, borrowing Mandi's boyfriend Nick's convertible. Unknown to them, however, the car is bugged, which Mandi uses to humiliate her. Then Jo learns that Tyler is Mandi's stepbrother. Mandi escalates the prank war, first trying to sabotage her chances to get into Carnegie Mellon, then using artificial sweetener and coffee to ruin one of Jo's father's engines.
Jo confronts Mandi about going too far, only to learn that she is focused on her narrow goal of being on top. So, when Jo and Abby realize she is about to throw her birthday party, Jo throws a rival party for Abby; Abby's party is "all invited", where Mandi's is "invite only".
The Plastics, seeing no one at Mandi's but hearing music at Abby's, puts ipecac on their pizza. Jo sees Hope paying for the pizza and notices it smells funny, so she stashes it away. The Plastics are disappointed to see that no one at Abby's party is sick. Mandi's boyfriend Nick comments on the lack of food, so Jo gives him the contaminated pizza; After Mandi kisses him, he vomits on her.
Jo, Abby, and Quinn, who had been helping them, start a new clique called the "Anti-Plastics" and play a series of pranks on Chastity and Hope. Jo campaigns against Mandi for Homecoming Queen, threatening Jo's relationship with Tyler as she's becoming like her nemesis.
Jo realizes what she's been doing is wrong, so Jo tries to return the money to Abby's father. Mandi overhears this and gets Quinn to turn against her and write about the bribe in the school paper, which nearly puts Jo and Abby's friendship at a breaking point.
Mandi and Nick steal the homecoming court charity money, which is to be donated to an animal shelter. She plants it in Jo's shed, then tips off Principal Duvall. Jo is expelled, but not before she finds Mandi and challenges her to a game of flag football. She refuses until she realizes she must win to remain popular.
Once Tyler and Quinn realize Jo was likely framed, they and Abby rekindle their friendship with her and enlist the tech-savvy Elliott to prove Jo's innocence. The Anti-Plastics beat the Plastics at flag football. Elliott finds images of Mandi and Nick planting the money and texts them to the student body; They are arrested, and Principal Duvall apologizes to Jo. At the Homecoming Dance, Abby and Elliott are crowned King and Queen, and Jo and Tyler kiss.
Jo and Abby attend Carnegie Mellon together while Tyler attends Penn State. Quinn takes over as leader of the Plastics. Mandi and Nick serve community service and are allowed to graduate, but lose their popularity.
Mean Girls 2 was announced in 2008 as one of multiple sequel projects planned by Paramount Famous.[2] In June 2010, Melanie Mayron was hired to direct the film.[3] The film does not reference the events of the original, except for the inclusion of Principal Duvall and the "Plastics" clique as the main antagonists.
The film was shot in July 2010 over the course of 20 days at Sutton Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] [5]
The official trailer of the film was released on November 22, 2010.[6] It premiered on ABC Family as a Mean Girls: Double Feature on January 23, 2011, with the 2004 film.[7] [8]
Mean Girls 2 received negative reviews from critics. Hilary Busis of Entertainment Weekly called it a "thinly veiled, low-budget remake of the 2004 hit with which it shares a name".[9]
Brian Orndorf gave the film a D+ grade and wrote that "Whatever problems I had with the 2004 feature aren't even an issue here, as the new film offers a decidedly more pedestrian take on the clique warfare concept, trading Fey's sly ambition for cruel DTV routine."[10]
Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media gave the film 3 out of 5, writing: "Mildly amusing sequel follows same 'be yourself' storyline."[11]
However, the film was TV's most-watched movie of the 2010-2011 season among viewers aged 12–34, and was especially popular with girls and women aged 12–34 (according to Variety (magazine)). On its original air date, Mean Girls 2 "was cable’s most-watched program from 8 to 10 p.m. in all key demos and No. 2 in overall viewers (3.4 million)".[12]