Ostensibly based on the hit single by Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Want to Have Fun is actually a spoof of the MTV generation. High school chums Janey (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Lynne (Helen Hunt) desperately try to enter a dance contest on a major cable-TV channel. The major obstacle to this goal is Janey's father, stiff-necked Colonel Glenn (Ed Lauter). The girls' most hated rival is rich-witch Natalie Sands (Holly Gagnier), who buys her way into the dance show. The plot, what there is of it, falls apart long before the final scene, but Girls Just Want to Have Fun gets by thanks to the winning performances of stars Parker and Hunt.