 In 2002 , Fey appeared in the surreal comedy Martin & <unk> . She made her debut as writer and co @-@ star of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls . Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey 's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non @-@ fiction book Queen Bees and <unk> by <unk> Wiseman . The cast includes other past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows , <unk> <unk> , and Amy Poehler . The film received favorable reviews , and was a box office success , grossing US $ 129 million worldwide . 
