CADY Heron grew up in Africa, but there's one wild animal she never met: the American high school superbitch.

She's never been to school, having been home-tutored by her academic parents. But when they move to Illinois she ends up in a cookie cutter high school for the overprivileged.

It's a hostile, alien world but she befriends two outcasts who encourage her to hang around with the 'Plastics' - three beautiful biatches at the top of the food chain.

Cady (Lohan) starts to fit in, changing her clothes, speech and, like, ohmygahd, totally everything. Soon she's indistinguishable from queen cow Regina (McAdams) and starts to forget who she is.

This observant, oh-so-true and frequently funny comedy is based on non-fiction bestseller Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence.

That just about sums the film up, but screenwriter Tina Fey (who also doubles as the 'cool' teacher) has sewn in enough wit and spite to lift Mean Girls above standard highschool fare.

Lohan is charming, though her voiceover rings unnecessary at times, but McAdams brings true flavour to bitch Regina, in a role that could easily have become a pastiche.

In true teen comedy style, the film is littered with one-joke faces - the rapping maths geek, the hysterical anti-sex health educator, Regina's freaky mom. But it's all good fun.

The messages about conformity and peer pressure could have been much darker, and Fey's script sadly veers into preachy, trite schlock. Since when did being a teenager have an ending this neat?

Mono rating: five out of ten