The headline Mean Girls seems to be all I’m hearing recently, especially with both the LFHS Theater performing the musical this upcoming spring and the new movie-musical twist having come out just this January. The original Mean Girls used to be one of my all time favorite movies and when a musical version came to the stages, my mom took me to New York to see the performance. I thought the music, acting, stage set up, and everything else was outstanding.
In January, a new rendition of Mean Girls was released, a modern-day mix of the iconic 2000’s movie and the stellar Broadway musical.
There are many controversial views on this new movie. Some believe it is a wonderful interpretation of the original and loved the idea of incorporating the musical with its own added twist. On the other hand, a handful of people think the musical aspect ruined the whole movie and say that it should have been better advertised as a musical.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about the new movie. I’m a bit biased due to the fact that I loved the musical on its own, so I was really excited to see how the directors were going to incorporate that aspect into a movie. However, in many parts of the movie, the music felt forced. As someone who enjoyed the musical, I had high expectations, and this movie didn’t meet the bar.
While I think it is a good idea for directors to put their own twist on things, the music did not have the energy I was expecting it to have. For example, in the popular song “Stupid With Love,” the music was more mellow compared to the known upbeat version in the musical. While I think Angourie Rice (Cady Heron) is a great singer, when I heard that song it was not what I expected at all, and frankly, it was a bit disappointing.
I also think that most of the other actors having musical theater background may have played a factor. Reneé Rapp (Regina George) and Auli’i Cravalho (Janis Sarkisian) easily had some of the best vocals which made the musical aspect easier to bear.
In terms of the acting and the storyline itself, there were many things to like and dislike. First, I want to start off by saying that the plot was funny, not as funny as the original, but funny nonetheless. Avantika Vandanapu (Karen Shetty) portrayed the role of Karen amazingly well and was hilarious.
Another area in which this movie shined was the recurring actors. Tina Fey reclaimed her role as Mrs. Norbury and Tim Meadows as Principal Duval. We also got a cameo from Lindsey Lohan who played Cady Heron in the original, now seen as a mathlete judge.
From the Broadway side of things, Ashley Park who used to play Gretchen Wieners in the original Broadway cast, now plays the French teacher. Also, Renneé Rapp played Regina George on Broadway for a short time so she was already familiar with the role coming into the movie.
Despite the highlights, this movie also had some noticeable downsides. I loved how the script incorporated some of the most iconic lines from the original, however, there were several iconic lines that did not appear at all.
I was not a fan how modernized the script was. I recognize that it is a modern-day version, and therefore they had to make some changes since the original was made 20 years ago. However, the amount of TikTok and technology references were distracting. I could watch the original movie every year and it would never go out of date. With the presence TikTok played in the remake, it made the movie more tailored to today’s world, preventing this version from being timeless like the original.
Overall, if you are a Mean Girls fan, this new movie is worth a watch, but don’t expect it to be the same as either the original or the musical.
