Mean Girls in 23 parts: the rise of movies and shows watched on TikTok

Paramount's release of the popular film in small clips reflects a rising trend of people watching movies on the platform

As the oldest and baldest person to have access to a TikTok account, I usually have a pretty good idea of what sort of content I'll be served, in that it's usually equal parts animal attack videos and jet-washing tutorials. Recently, however, the algorithm threw me a curveball: a 90-second clip of the 23-year-old Nancy Meyers film What Women Want.

It was a good scene, one where Mel Gibson listens in on Judy Greer's self-hating inner monologue and starts to see her as a true contemporary. I watched the whole thing. And, as a reward, TikTok then gave me another scene from What Women Want. And then another. And another. And over the course of a couple of days, albeit in a disjointed and non-linear manner, I had basically watched all of What Women Want. It's a good film! Sarah Paulson is in it! Who knew?