At the same time, credit should be given to the brilliance of Tina Fey, for she has also challenged a number of the classic Hughes trademarks. While there are certainly a host of ignorance-plagued adults in the film, Fey provides a unique twist in her hilarious role as the sarcastic math teacher Ms. Norbury. Ms. Norbury proves to be the voice of reason throughout much of the film, and also seems to be the rare teacher in adult cinema who seems to truly empathize with her students to a strong degree. She is not written as the usual conservative teacher who adheres to a strict code of conduct; she is an aggravated divorcee with a secondary job as a bartender. Its not hard to imagine that Ms. Norbury would have been in Saturday detention with the rest of The Breakfast Club a few years earlier (considering that Fey was a teen herself when that film was released, that's not too much of a stretch).

The film also succeeds in analyzing and defining the countless subcultures and "rituals" that are common in today's high school environment through Cady's clever voice-over observations (sample musing: "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it"). Cady's juxtaposition of high school culture with the culture of the African wilderness also works effectively in emphasizing the severity of her social perils. Not only did the creative forces behind Mean Girls find inspiration in the works of Hughes, but in some ways they have corrected and improved upon the formula.

There are a number of people who will likely avoid this film as a "chick flick", or will shun it out of disdain for star Lindsay Lohan's less-than-stellar recent films; I certainly did. However, those who are willing to give the film an honest opportunity will be pleasantly surprised to discover a truly smart and funny film. And for those who have missed the glorious teen movies of John Hughes, Mean Girls provides some hope that his legacy in the teen movie genre will continue to thrive.