MEAN GIRLS (2024) - Mark Reviews Movies

Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 11, 2024

The core of the original remains in Mean Girls, a musical remake based on the Broadway show that premiered a bit more than a decade after the same-named 2004 film was released. That was almost certainly going to be a given, since this movie, like the first film and the stage adaptation, is written by Tina Fey, whose twist on the usual story of trying to become popular in high school from the original film was as sharp in its dissection of the corrupting nature of power as it was in its satirical take on the genre.

Story-wise, not much is changed in this new version, save for a couple of jokes—both additions and, when it comes to some of the meaner stuff (ironically), omissions—and the acknowledgement that the world has changed by way of smartphones in the ensuing two decades. The selling point here is that now that story is interrupted occasionally by songs. It's a decent idea, but it is a shame the songs, by composer Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin, aren't anywhere near as strong as the tuneless material they're trying—and don't really need—to support.

Where does that leave co-directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.'s two-way adaptation, then? Well, it's a mostly pointless rehash of the original story, although the new cast brings exactly what they need to in order for the material to remain funny—not nearly as funny, of course, since we already know the course of the plot and the gags. As for the musical element, the songs stop everything that works in its tracks, because it's not adding anything to the plotting, the characterization, or the humor that's not already present between the song-and-dance numbers.

It seems odd to say, considering how unnecessary straight-up remakes can be, but Fey might have better served her original material by simply forgoing the music and updating the story for a new generation, which probably finds the internet-free bullying and backstabbing of the 2004 film quite quaint. Wouldn't it be nice nowadays if some public embarrassment was only laughed at by the people who were present and laughed about by those who heard about it second-hand, instead of having the incident immortalized online by anyone with a phone? Wouldn't it be pleasant if the rumor mill stayed churning in a local high school, instead of becoming fodder for everyone on the moment's preferred social networking platform?

There's a lot to do with this material, in other words, and this new version only scratches the surface of the potential. The filmmakers think big in terms of making songs into a driving force of the material and of the spectacle of the numbers (literally widening the screen for certain sequences so the camera can capture all the choreography in the background). However, the world and aims of this movie feel much smaller than they previously did as a result.

An introductory number even lets us know what we're getting into before the narrative begins, with a song explaining this is a "cautionary tale" about popularity and power and making sure a school bus isn't heading your direction before stepping into the street. It revolves around Cady (Angourie Rice), whose mother (played by Jenna Fischer) brings her back home to the northern suburbs of Chicago after a long stay for mom's work in Kenya.

With the help of outsiders Janis (Auli'i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spviey), Cady quickly learns the ins and outs of her new high school's clique system, but she's lured toward the coolest girls in school, a clique known as "the Plastics" led by the tyrannically popular Regina George (Reneé Rapp). Janis sees it as an opportunity to get revenge on Regina, but being that close to power and popularity takes its toll on Cady. Her crush on Aaron (Christopher Briney) gives her even more reason to become someone she isn't.

Odds are that anyone watching this version are already familiar with the original film, which became a cult hit after its theatrical release (and still holds up quite, quite well), so any synopsis of this adaptation's plot is mostly to point out that it is pretty much identical to its predecessor. Fey even reprises her role as Cady's math teacher, who can see through her star pupil's attempts to catch Aaron's attention and leads the school's girls in a climactic intervention (Fey gets one of the best jokes here, when she not-so-subtly makes the point that this particular scene doesn't need and probably shouldn't have a song connected to it). Tim Meadows returns, too, as the beleaguered principal, but otherwise (apart from a last-minute cameo), the rest of the cast is entirely new.

They are good here, especially Rice and Rapp as the conniving duo. As for the other Plastics, Avantika plays the not-at-all-bright Karen with a bubbly attitude and a very amusing 20-yard stare, and Bebe Wood is Gretchen, who knows all the gossip about Regina and gets a song about her insecurity as a justification for wanting to reveal it all. That song basically makes the point the narrative itself will eventually make, just without the sense of humor.

All of the songs here do exactly that and with the same, tonally distracting shortcoming. Mean Girls might have worked as a musical. It simply doesn't with this specific music.

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