James Berardinelli"Although Mean Girls is likely to be frequently compared to Heathers, and perhaps occasionally to Election, the movie it most strongly reminds me of is 1999's Jawbreaker. All four of these films offer a darkly satirical perspective of high school and popularity, but, while Heathers and Election follow things through to the bitter end, Mean Girls, like Jawbreaker, loses its comic momentum before the closing credits roll. In this case, the ending is more sappy than happy and gives us the sense that the screenplay betrays its origins in order to avoid an unsettling denouement. As a result, Mean Girls works for its first three-quarters, then implodes as it approaches the finish line..."