Movie Smarts

Mean Girls Quiz: Can You Sit with the Experts?

The big scenes are easy to remember. How many of the little details stayed with you?

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

Mean Girls: This Cafeteria Needs a Peace Treaty

Cady arrives at a new school with very little experience of how teenagers behave in groups. A friendly invitation pulls her into the popular crowd, where every compliment seems to hide a warning. What starts as a plan to expose a bully becomes a much messier lesson in how easy it is to turn into one. The clothes look great. The social rules are a nightmare.

Choose carefully. Your answer does not need the popular table's approval.

1. Who plays Cady Heron?
- Lindsay Lohan
- Amanda Bynes
- Hilary Duff
- Emma Roberts
Lohan was seventeen and fresh from Freaky Friday, and she originally wanted to play Regina. Tina Fey and the director Mark Waters talked her into the lead instead, on the grounds that playing the villain would do her image no favors.
2. Who plays Regina George?
- Lizzy Caplan
- Lacey Chabert
- Rachel McAdams
- Amanda Seyfried
McAdams was in her mid-twenties playing a high school junior, and The Notebook came out the same summer, so 2004 made her twice over. Lizzy Caplan and Lacey Chabert are in the film too, as Janis and Gretchen.
3. Who wrote the screenplay and plays Ms. Norbury?
- Maya Rudolph
- Kristen Wiig
- Tina Fey
- Amy Poehler
Fey was head writer at Saturday Night Live and adapted the script from Rosalind Wiseman's nonfiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, a guide for parents. Amy Poehler is in it too, as Regina's self-styled cool mom, and Tim Meadows plays the principal.
4. Where did Cady live before moving to Illinois?
- South America
- Australia
- India
- Africa
Her zoologist parents homeschooled her in Africa for twelve years, and the move comes when her mother is offered tenure at Northwestern. Karen's first question on hearing this is why, if Cady is from Africa, she is white.
5. What is the popular girls' group called?
- The Royals
- The Diamonds
- The Heathers
- The Plastics
The name is Janis's, coined for Regina, Gretchen and Karen, and it is not meant kindly. The Heathers are the clique in the 1988 film Heathers, the dark comedy Mean Girls is most often compared with.
6. What color do the Plastics wear on Wednesdays?
- Purple
- Red
- Pink
- White
Gretchen lays out the rules: pink on Wednesdays, a ponytail only once a week, no tank top two days running, and jeans or track pants only on Fridays. Cady has no pink, so she borrows a polo shirt from Damian for her first Wednesday.
7. What book contains the group's cruel comments about other students?
- The Black Book
- The Pink Ledger
- The Gossip Guide
- The Burn Book
Regina eventually photocopies its pages and scatters them through the halls to frame the other three, having first written a cruel entry about herself so she will not be suspected. Principal Duvall's response is to lock the junior girls in the gym.
8. Who plays Karen Smith?
- Rachel McAdams
- Anna Faris
- Lacey Chabert
- Amanda Seyfried
It was Seyfried's first film, and she had auditioned for Regina before being steered toward the dim one. Karen's chest can forecast rain, which she takes as a form of ESPN. The Abba musical made Seyfried a lead four years later.
9. What hits Regina when she storms out into the street after the fight with Cady?
- A police car
- A school bus
- A delivery van
- A motorcycle
Regina walks into the road mid-tirade and is flattened by a bus, and the rumor that Cady pushed her is around the school within hours. She turns up at the Spring Fling in a spinal halo, and later works her rage out on the lacrosse team.
10. What word does Gretchen keep trying to make popular?
- Choice
- Fetch
- Ace
- Groovy
Gretchen explains that it is slang from England, and Regina eventually orders her to stop trying to make fetch happen. She is played by Lacey Chabert, formerly of Party of Five, and her character's father is said to have invented Toaster Strudel.
11. What is Cady's crush called?
- Aaron Samuels
- Jason Taylor
- Shane Oman
- Kevin Gnapoor
Aaron, played by Jonathan Bennett, is Regina's ex, which is the problem. Cady pretends to be failing calculus so he will tutor her, and the day he asks her the date, October 3, has been celebrated by fans as Mean Girls Day ever since.
12. Which subject is Cady especially good at?
- Math
- Art
- Biology
- History
She deliberately tanks calculus to spend time with Aaron, then has to join the Mathletes as part of her penance. At the state championship she wins the sudden-death round by recognizing that the limit in question does not exist.
13. Who are Cady's first real friends at the school?
- Karen and Jason
- Gretchen and Kevin
- Janis and Damian
- Regina and Shane
Janis Ian, named after the singer, has a grudge against Regina going back to a rumor Regina spread about her in eighth grade, which is what the whole scheme is really about. Damian, played by Daniel Franzese, is the one who reports Cady's progress.
14. What snack does Cady give Regina while claiming it helps weight loss?
- Seaweed chips
- Rice cakes
- Protein pretzels
- Kälteen bars
The bars are what Cady's mother used to help underweight children gain weight in Africa. Regina ends up in sweatpants because nothing else fits, and Gretchen uses the Friday-only rule to throw her off her own lunch table.
15. What holiday song do the Plastics perform in the talent show?
- Santa Baby
- Jingle Bell Rock
- Winter Wonderland
- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
The routine is an annual tradition, and this year Cady takes Regina's old spot in it. Gretchen kicks the stereo into the audience by accident, so Cady sings the rest unaccompanied until the crowd joins in.

All the answers

1. Who plays Cady Heron?

Lindsay Lohan

Lohan was seventeen and fresh from Freaky Friday, and she originally wanted to play Regina. Tina Fey and the director Mark Waters talked her into the lead instead, on the grounds that playing the villain would do her image no favors.
2. Who plays Regina George?

Rachel McAdams

McAdams was in her mid-twenties playing a high school junior, and The Notebook came out the same summer, so 2004 made her twice over. Lizzy Caplan and Lacey Chabert are in the film too, as Janis and Gretchen.
3. Who wrote the screenplay and plays Ms. Norbury?

Tina Fey

Fey was head writer at Saturday Night Live and adapted the script from Rosalind Wiseman's nonfiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes, a guide for parents. Amy Poehler is in it too, as Regina's self-styled cool mom, and Tim Meadows plays the principal.
4. Where did Cady live before moving to Illinois?

Africa

Her zoologist parents homeschooled her in Africa for twelve years, and the move comes when her mother is offered tenure at Northwestern. Karen's first question on hearing this is why, if Cady is from Africa, she is white.
5. What is the popular girls' group called?

The Plastics

The name is Janis's, coined for Regina, Gretchen and Karen, and it is not meant kindly. The Heathers are the clique in the 1988 film Heathers, the dark comedy Mean Girls is most often compared with.
6. What color do the Plastics wear on Wednesdays?

Pink

Gretchen lays out the rules: pink on Wednesdays, a ponytail only once a week, no tank top two days running, and jeans or track pants only on Fridays. Cady has no pink, so she borrows a polo shirt from Damian for her first Wednesday.
7. What book contains the group's cruel comments about other students?

The Burn Book

Regina eventually photocopies its pages and scatters them through the halls to frame the other three, having first written a cruel entry about herself so she will not be suspected. Principal Duvall's response is to lock the junior girls in the gym.
8. Who plays Karen Smith?

Amanda Seyfried

It was Seyfried's first film, and she had auditioned for Regina before being steered toward the dim one. Karen's chest can forecast rain, which she takes as a form of ESPN. The Abba musical made Seyfried a lead four years later.
9. What hits Regina when she storms out into the street after the fight with Cady?

A school bus

Regina walks into the road mid-tirade and is flattened by a bus, and the rumor that Cady pushed her is around the school within hours. She turns up at the Spring Fling in a spinal halo, and later works her rage out on the lacrosse team.
10. What word does Gretchen keep trying to make popular?

Fetch

Gretchen explains that it is slang from England, and Regina eventually orders her to stop trying to make fetch happen. She is played by Lacey Chabert, formerly of Party of Five, and her character's father is said to have invented Toaster Strudel.
11. What is Cady's crush called?

Aaron Samuels

Aaron, played by Jonathan Bennett, is Regina's ex, which is the problem. Cady pretends to be failing calculus so he will tutor her, and the day he asks her the date, October 3, has been celebrated by fans as Mean Girls Day ever since.
12. Which subject is Cady especially good at?

Math

She deliberately tanks calculus to spend time with Aaron, then has to join the Mathletes as part of her penance. At the state championship she wins the sudden-death round by recognizing that the limit in question does not exist.
13. Who are Cady's first real friends at the school?

Janis and Damian

Janis Ian, named after the singer, has a grudge against Regina going back to a rumor Regina spread about her in eighth grade, which is what the whole scheme is really about. Damian, played by Daniel Franzese, is the one who reports Cady's progress.
14. What snack does Cady give Regina while claiming it helps weight loss?

Kälteen bars

The bars are what Cady's mother used to help underweight children gain weight in Africa. Regina ends up in sweatpants because nothing else fits, and Gretchen uses the Friday-only rule to throw her off her own lunch table.
15. What holiday song do the Plastics perform in the talent show?

Jingle Bell Rock

The routine is an annual tradition, and this year Cady takes Regina's old spot in it. Gretchen kicks the stereo into the audience by accident, so Cady sings the rest unaccompanied until the crowd joins in.