Mean Girls (2024)

“Mean Girls” stars Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Christopher Briney, Jaquel Spivey, Bebe Wood, Avantika Vandanapu, Tina Fey, and Tim Meadows. Released on January 12, 2024, the film has a teenager surviving the social hierarchy of high school.

The film featured the directorial debuts of Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. It is based on the Broadway musical of the same name by Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin, and Tina Fey, which was based on Mark Waters’s 2004 comedy film. It is also based on the 2002 novel Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The holiday season may be over, but the movie-musical trend is just getting started. Of course, what better way to continue this harmonious streak than with the baddest bitches in high school. 2004 gave birth to “Mean Girls”, a teen comedy classic involving an outsider confronting clique-obsessed teenage bullies that saw Lindsay Lohan at her 2000s peak and even launched Amanda Seyfried’s acting career. It also notified Tina Fey’s profession as a screenwriter outside of her acting. The success of “Mean Girls” resulted in it spawning a made-for-TV sequel and several adaptations, including a stage musical. Twenty years later, the cult classic returns with a musical twist that’s familiar but refreshing for newcomers. Does it deliver the spunkiness and charm that made Mark Waters’s version a hit, or was it an unnecessary remake that belongs with the outcasts? Let’s find out.

The story follows Cady Heron (Rice), a homeschooled teen who moves back to the United States from Kenya with her mother (Jenna Fischer). Cady attends North Shore High School to provide a fresh start to her social life. However, Cady discovers that high school life isn’t as easy as being homeschooled, as she experiences various cliques that separate one group from the other. One of them is the “Plastics” led by the school’s ‘queen bee’ Regina George (Rapp). After befriending the outsiders Janis ‘Imi’ike (Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (Spivey), Cady is tasked by Janis to infiltrate the “Plastics” for Janis’s personal gain. What follows is a series of teen-related (and musical) events that Cady encounters amid her mission to ruin Regina’s reputation.  

I hadn’t watched the 2004 version of “Mean Girls” until recently, probably due to my disinterest in its concept. I remembered seeing bits and pieces of it, and that’s about it. But I finally came around and saw it in its entirety before the new interpretation, and it was actually very good. Its entertaining plot benefited strongly from its teen humor, solid representation of high school cliques, and a young cast, mainly Lindsay Lohan. It’s understandable why it made a substantial impact on the high school genre. This gave me the confidence to check out the recent adaptation to see how it compares to the 2004 cult classic. Beforehand, I constantly forgot that there was a musical version of “Mean Girls”. In fact, everyone seemed to have forgotten about it based on what I heard. But now it’s something that’ll constantly remind me thanks to this film. It's not just because of its existence but because of how surprisingly decent and fun it turned out.

Remakes usually get a bad reputation for not adding anything new to the source material or tarnishing the classic with modern-day tropes, rendering them unnecessary and inferior. The live-action remakes from Disney are some examples of this trend. So, it’s easy to be concerned about “Mean Girls” being another unnecessary remake of the already-good original. After watching it, I can say that it is mostly true. The 2024 version of “Mean Girls” doesn’t need to exist, as we already got Mark Waters’s interpretation starring Lindsay Lohan on Paramount+. However, it does enough with its changes to make it stand on its own, making it a suitably fresh introduction to the source material for newcomers and a nostalgic, melodic ride for fans of the 2004 film. 

If you’ve seen the 2004 version, you’ll immediately recognize that “Mean Girls” follows the same storyline beat-by-beat, a similar strategy that Disney gets constantly bullied for in their remakes. However, its inclusion of musical numbers and modern social media trends kept it from being a straight-up carbon copy of Mark Waters’s adaptation. In case you forgot already, the 2024 version of “Mean Girls” is an adaptation of the Broadway musical that the 2004 version inspired. If you still can’t tell, there’s a musical note in the film’s title that shouldn’t be hard to spot. If that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know what else to say. In short, it’s the 2004 version with characters singing and dancing amid the teen drama, which explains why it’s around twenty minutes longer than the original version. As someone who hasn’t watched the Broadway musical, I thought the songs were catchy enough to make the film's familiar tale pop with color and energy.

One of the things I enjoyed from 2004’s “Mean Girls” is the relatability of its timeless themes, especially for people attending high school. While it depicts an outsider surviving the dog-eat-dog world called high school, it mainly reflects the school’s cliques that divide students into different groups, like the “Plastics”, and how they affect someone’s self-esteems negatively, leading them to become the person they’re not. The way to get past these cliques is to appreciate oneself and the people around them, regardless of their differences. These messages, combined with Tina Fey’s witty screenplay, made “Mean Girls” a fun teen comedy and a crucial source of inspiration for those with similar doubts. With Fey returning to pen the script and reprise her role as Ms. Norbury, the music-driven adaptation maintains the original’s wit and charm while effectively providing a modern spin for newcomers. Some of its moments couldn’t capture lightning in the bottle like its counterpart, but they’re still a blast to watch regarding its silly humor and energetic direction.

Part of the movie’s charm comes from the cast, who attempt to match the charisma and heart of the 2004 film's actors like Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The result is a remarkable display of young and familiar talent regarding their performances and singing. Angourie Rice successfully captured the charm and awkwardness of Cady Heron, a role that propelled Lohan to stardom. Speaking of Lohan, she made a cameo appearance in the movie, so if you love her in the original, you’ll likely be satisfied with her involvement. Reneé Rapp reprised her role of Regina George from the stage musical, and it’s easy to understand why. Rapp owned every scene as the conniving and self-absorbed queen bee, not just through her delightful performance but also her incredible singing. Regarding her musical numbers like “Someone Gets Hurt” and “World Burn”, Rapp’s Regina resembles a Disney villain coming to life in the best way. I would even say she’s one of the best parts of the film. Auli’i Cravalho did really well in another post-Moana role regarding her performance as Janis, and Jaquel Spivey was humorously entertaining as Damian. Fey and Tim Meadows were the only actors who reprised their roles from the 2004 film, with Fey as Ms. Norbury and Meadows as Principal Duvall. If you like them in the 2004 movie, you’ll feel the same way about them in this version.  

Overall, “Mean Girls” offers enough pizazz, charm, and musical essence in its familiar structure to stand out above the remake rejects. Its beat-by-beat narrative and tropes may not win everybody over, including those who prefer the 2004 cult classic. But when it comes to the music and its fresh modern vibe, it’s still an entertaining and heartfelt experience that understands the cultural impact its counterpart left, mainly its thoughtful themes. From its talented young cast to the toe-tapping, lively musical numbers, this harmonious adaptation of “Mean Girls” is totally fetch for the right reasons.

B-