Is 'Clueless' better than 'Mean Girls'?

“Question Everything” opens the floor for debate of pop culture topics��serious to whimsical, sublime to ridiculous—that have no right or wrong answers but certainly elicit a wide spectrum of intense opinions. Hopefully reading these different perspectives will open minds, challenge thinking and maybe even provoke a change in what you believe. Let’s discuss!

Is Clueless better than Mean Girls?

EW’s Critics Make Their Cases

Tim Stack says:

Clueless: There would be no Mean Girls without Clueless. Clueless is like the cool senior girl who shows the ropes to a freshman with the potential to take her place in three years. I saw it when I was 15 and had just finished my first year of high school. No teen comedies before had felt as fresh or witty. And that’s how it still feels. I was in utter shock the other day when a friend announced he had never seen Clueless. It was as if he had revealed he’d never tried pizza. Because that’s what watching this movie is: a seminal experience. Also, like, the clothes and Paul Rudd are suuuuuper cute.

Leah Greenblatt says:

Mean Girls: Tim, why am I even listening to you? You’re a virgin who can’t drive. No, I’m kidding! (And quoting the movie I’m not here to defend.) I think both films are crazy smart and meta and of their moment. But I’m giving the edge to Mean Girls, because while Clueless gave us a Beverly Hills fantasia where kids wear couture to gym class and parents and consequences hardly exist, Girls felt like a much more real reflection of what high school was actually like for most of us, no matter where we sat in the cafeteria. Every line in Tina Fey’s script is brilliant, and every character — from Amy Poehler’s Cool Mom to the elusive Glen Coco—is perfectly drawn. And so, so fetch.