De mères en filles

30 minutes in & after I was done laughing at the boat load of college film cliches & tropes, it occurred to me how much of a huge Mean Girls ripoff this is. & WHY does Lifetime perpetually cast actors who look like 30 to pass for high school teens??

I rented this because of the actresses in this movie (and the plot appealed to me), and the resulting product surprised me. The daughter in the movie goes to college and agrees to pledge her mother's sorority. Unfortunately, the girls in this chapter turn out to be shallow snobs who care little about her, and she also checks out another one. After overhearing two sisters talking about "illegal stuff", she reports it, the sorority gets stripped of its upcoming formal, and she gets shunned by the campus population. Her best friend stays in the other sorority and becomes a "mean girl." She finally gets into the other sorority as a "late pledge," her mother is not too happy (as you can imagine), and an all-out war between the two sororities begins. I think this says something about our society and becoming our own person. I recommend it.

*** out of ****

This film begins with a young college students named "Katie Parker" (Lucy Hale) and her best friend "Sara Snow" (Phoebe Strohl) endeavoring to determine which sorority to choose. Since her mother is a leading member of the Delta sorority, Katie is considered as a "legacy" and has an extremely good chance of being accepted to it. Sara, on the other hand, is not as fortunate and can only hope to be selected by it. Making things even more interesting is the fact that it is consider a coup if another sorority can lure a rival legacy over to them. To that effect, the Kappa sorority has expressed an interest in Katie as well. Recognizing this, the Delta sorority intentionally violates the rules in order to entice Katie join them--and that's when things go horribly wrong for both Katie and Sara. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an interesting made-for-television film which started off pretty well but began to lose some of its appeal at around the halfway mark due to some rather unrealistic scenarios from that point on-with the strained relationship between Katie and her mother "Lutie" (Courtney Thorne-Smith) being especially peculiar. But that's just my opinion. Be that as it may, while I certainly don't consider this to be a great film by any means, I suppose it still passed the time rather well, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I have a soft spot for college movies involving fraternities or sorotities, especially when they get raunchy with parties, booze and wars among them. This movie incorporate a tiny bit of that but its very minimal.

Its more of a Mean Girls in college kinda movie, and even tough there is indeed a competition between the 2 houses, it didn't felt like the center stage at all. There is only 3 different events in the competition and they breeze trough pretty fast. I never felt any tension in the competition.

Movies is under 90 minutes and spend quite a while introducing us to the characters and following Lucy on her "scouting" of the sororities and such. So there is so few times to have the actual "war" in Sorority War.

When it comes to the characters a lot of their decisions and actions look a bit weird. Im not gonna spoil anything but the best friend and the mom especially, i don't think anyone would behave like this. I get that these movies are not meant to be realistic and i can suspend my disbelief over slapsticks, gags, and college sheninagans but these 2 "relations" and how they evolve felt off to me.

We also spend very very few times with any sorority sisters beside the "leader" of the Kappa, the best friend and the Delta "leader" wich is pretty much the main antagonist.

Overall i didn't find the same fun as in either the original Mean Girls (only one i saw so far), American Pie Beta House, Van Wilder 2 or The House Bunny.

But thats not to say i disliked the movie. I think it was alright. Good for a viewing. Since its a made for TV movie im fine giving it a bit of slack as well. I just finished it and taught "yeah well.. that was alright" but nothing more.

First, let me say I never saw Mean Girls - the movie and/ or any sequels or iterations (eg. Musical) - so for all the reviewers downgrading the movie because it's a "shameless Mean Girls rip-off," I have no basis to make that complaint. I reviewed this movie on its own merits alone.

Secondly, this is clearly a high-production value movie for a Lifetime movie. Not quite theatrical release quality, but certainly a Disney original movie or Netflix original movie quality.

The movie is carried brilliantly by hugely watchable multi-talented charismatic seasoned TV Queen Lucy Hale in an early-ish TV movie role that makes the movie engaging right out the gate.

Sticking to a common Lifetime setup wherein the star girl gets accepted or is recruited or pressured to join the same sorority as her mom as a "legacy" sister, the movie is built around the tension that ensues when the girl breaks from that mold. The movie could well have been entitle Mean Moms.

The campy sometimes cringy "warring" aside ("more like 'Little Whores on the Prairie'"), the movie does prove to be a mini-showcase for the loveable Hale.

This a Lifetime movie worth seeing.