‘MEAN GIRLS’ IS THE MUSICAL WE DIDN’T NEED BUT REALLY ENJOY
Remade as a kind of musical, this Mean Girls musical is perhaps the remake we really didn’t need. Even on the original’s twentieth anniversary.
Mean Girls (2024) Film Review mean girls musical
Moving from Kenya is a big deal for Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), like a big deal. She’s been homeschooled by her mother who has them living in Kenya for her job. She’s moving to the sates now and for the first time ever, she’s going to be going to high school, and if there’s one thing Cady doesn’t want, it’s to live with regrets and going to high school seems like a good place to start.
What Cady doesn’t expect is The Plastics. Led by Regina George (Renee Rapp), she hears all about Regina and her groupies Karen and Gretchen (Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood) from Janis and Damian (Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey), the only two people who show Cady any attention. When Cady is invited into the Plastics, she has an unexpected rise to fame, and a crush on the one guy forbidden to anyone. mean girls musical
FILM REVIEW | ‘ANYONE BUT YOU’ ISN’T THE ROM-COM WE DESERVE
‘MEAN GIRLS’ IS THE MUSICAL WE DIDN’T NEED BUT REALLY ENJOY. Reviewing the (Fetch) 2024 #MeanGirls flick. #MeanGirlstheMusical #ThePlastics #Movies #MovieReview #Reviews Share on XThe 2004 comedy with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams is still a kind of “cult” classic film. Sure I guarantee there is some article somewhere saying it’s culturally inappropriate, but I don’t think this dismisses the fact that viewers still enjoy Mean Girls. The film has never been an absolute favorite of mine, but I do enjoy the silly pettiness that is a film about high schoolers and their inability to not feud in some way.
While this film is a musical, the promotional material on repeat doesn’t reflect this. I think the film perhaps wants to stand out while also being something that pays homage to the 2004 comedy. In accomplishes this, and much to my surprise, uses the music to stand out. Surprisingly, the songs do impress. I think they are catchy and don’t overshadow the film (we still get plenty of breathing time), plus they help reveal things about the characters. While I don’t think we needed this remake, it is a good time. mean girls musical
The cast is really good and fun fact, Rapp also played Regina in the stage play. Plus in addition to everyone else, The Summer I Turned Pretty breakout star Christopher Briney also features as do original 2004 stars Tina Fey and Tim Meadows. The film relies, painfully so, on the generational trends, as I’m sure the original film does too. It doesn’t bother me as someone who’s an adult, but seeing how “sexual” the film makes the characters is one thing I wish were different.
In the end Mean Girls is better than I did assume, but it’s also not my favorite film in the genre. Oh, and the predecessor callbacks is cute.
You can stream this 2024 Mean Girls musical digitally on Paramount+ at publication
Photos: Paramount+
Content: the film is full of suggestive dress and plunging necklines. There are shots of the same sex kissing here and one character likes the same sex. There are remarks about someone being gay, and some make out scenes. There’s a comment about being inexperienced or having sex.
