As Lindsay Lohan and Lacey Chabert celebrate the release of their two subpar Netflix movies by orbiting the promotion circuit together, some might be wondering where the other “Plastics,” Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried, fit into the equation. The answer is: they don’t. And for good reason. After all, Seyfried already lowered her standards to appear in a Mean Girls-oriented Wal-Mart commercial last year, so she’s obviously reached her quota for subpar fare/constantly dredging up her Mean Girls connection as though it’s the best thing she’s ever done (unlike Lohan and Chabert, it isn’t). McAdams, of course, infamously chose not to participate in that commercial at all, even though it’s likely the closest the movie will get to having a sequel (as opposed to an affronting, Gen Z-aimed reboot).
The reason that this half of the Plastics appears to have “separated” from the Lindsay/Lacey half of late appears to be, at least in part, due to a marked difference in calibers of stardom. On one side, you have a pair of Academy Award-nominated actresses (McAdams for Spotlight and Seyfried for Mank, not to mention her Golden Globe and Emmy wins for her performance in The Dropout), and, on the other, you have a pair of, let’s just say it, TV movie actresses. You know, the sort who are pretty much down for any low-budget project that can be “dressed up” to seem like something more. Sort of like the Netflix movies that each one has gotten themselves involved in. In Lohan’s case, Our Little Secret appears to be a slight step up from the last two Netflix ventures she was a part of, Falling for Christmas and Irish Wish—though, to be fair, the latter two set an extremely low bar. But, for Chabert, there’s no denying that Hot Frosty is designed to be, to quote Enid from Ghost World, a “so bad it’s gone past good and back to bad again” type of movie. The sort of thing one watches “in jest,” but never takes seriously.
For the most part, this assessment could be made of Lohan and Chabert’s entire respective filmography, both movie and TV-wise (let no one forget that both actresses started out on soap operas before graduating to still more unsophisticated projects). Even if Lohan does her best to come across as the more “superior” actress between herself and Chabert (of Not Another Teen Movie and Daddy Day Care-type movie offerings). But no, Lohan is still the person with I Know Who Killed Me, Labor Pains, Scary Movie 5 and Among the Shadows in her “film” credits, to name a few of the most embarrassing clunkers.
In contrast, it was clear from the outset of their success with Mean Girls that McAdams and Seyfried intended to choose, let’s say, roles with a bit more substance. Which is why Seyfried would go on to be in movies like Alpha Dog and Jennifer’s Body soon after Mean Girls, and McAdams would star in the likes of The Notebook, State of Play, Sherlock Holmes and A Most Wanted Man in the decade that followed. This eventually led to films like Spotlight, Disobedience and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Her acclaim and recognition also extended into the TV realm with her role as Antigone Bezzerides in the second season of True Detective, as well as her recent acknowledgement in the Broadway theater scene with Mary Jane, for which she was nominated for a Tony award.
To add insult to injury in terms of Lohan’s post-Mean Girls career, Seyfried eventually ended up playing a role that Lohan was slated for: Linda Lovelace. While Lohan was booted off a project called Inferno (written and directed by Matthew Wilder), Seyfried ended up landing the part in another biopic about the porn star titled simply Lovelace.
All of this is to say that, while Mean Girls fans might be atwitter at the sight of Lindsay and Lacey joining forces on the promotional circuit, what it’s really saying, more than anything, is that they still have so little clout as actresses that they need to band together to keep reminding people of their so-called cultural impact via Mean Girls. To the extent that Chabert not only referenced Mean Girls in Hot Frosty by waking up to the tune of “Jingle Bell Rock” and watching a clip of Falling for Christmas and telling “Jack Snowman” (Dustin Milligan), “That looks just like this girl I went to high school with,” but has also now appeared with Lohan on Watch What Happens Live! hosted by that notorious bitch, Andy Cohen.
The two can’t seem to get enough of their “Netflix synergy” together, despite continuing to return to Mean Girls by acting out a scene from it with Cohen in a wig as Regina (because of course that’s the role he would want to play). It would be on-brand for the “real” Regina to say in response to something like this: “Desperate much?” And yes, the truth is that, obviously, Lindsay and Lacey need all the promotion help they can get.
So while it might seem like they’re effectively saying, “You can’t sit with us” to Rachel and Amanda, it’s much more the other way around.
