Scene On A Sunday: Mean Girls

Lacey Chabert’s Gretchen is easily the most forgotten Plastic. I can’t pick favourites when it comes to the four, they each have their strong suits, but my mind often wanders to Lacey and her delightful misguided Gretchen. She hasn’t gone on to greater things like I’d have expected, but this particular scene is a testimony to her talents – more a monologue, than a scene.

       

It occurs immediately after that fateful performance of “Santa Baby” where Gretchen’s nervousness is at its worse. It culminates with Rachel McAdams excellent line reading of “Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen!” which segues into this scene particular scene.

            

She starts off normal enough,

Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?

Okay, perhaps it’s not completely normal but Lacey sells it and we know she’s talking about Regina, but I’m thinking about Caesar and Regina in tandem, her argument is completely convoluted.

What’s go great about Caesar? Hmmm?

I like the surprised look Lindsay gives here. She’s playing them all, but I think even she didn’t see Gretchen cracking like this. 

Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar…

I think this is the turning point, and Gretchen is so absorbed in her “essay”, we’ve never seen her so completely focused in the film yet.

People totally like Caesar just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody. Huh?

Lacey is only getting better as Gretchen descends into craziness. My favourite line of the monologue comes with…

Because that’s not what Rome was about.

It’s pathetic really, because that’s precisely what the plastics (Rome) are about, but Gretchen is being crushed by Regina, so her desperation is understandable as she projects herself on to Shakespeare. Kudos to Tina Fey for working this magic…and then the dénouement –

We should totally just stab Caesar!!!!!

Classic.

      

Disclaimer: I’m a feeling bit lazy at the moment, so this scene is a little bit of a repost.