On January 8, 2024, a movie-turned-musical-turned-movie based around the fan-favorite, “Mean Girls” premiered in theaters, drawing countless fans to see if the newest remake lived up to the standards brought about by Tina Fey’s genius in the original “Mean Girls”, which premiered in 2004.
The original plot of Mean Girls provided the perfect outline for a comfort comedy, as it follows Cady Herron, the quintessential new girl/nerd/unintentional beauty queen as she switches from homeschooling in Africa to public high school in America. She meets her geeky friends, Damon and Janice who watch as she is accidentally adopted into the plastics, the coolest girls in school whom everyone wants to be; and more importantly, who assist her in her plan for revenge when the queen bee, Regina George, steals her guy. Throughout the movie, Cady is seen changing from her old self to please her love interest, Aaron Samuels, to gain more popularity, to sneak around behind her old friends and her new posse, and eventually, we see her remember what is important as she wins Prom Queen and gives a uniting speech that breaks the social hierarchy, gets her the guy and wins over her original friends. Through its comedy, cliches, relevant themes, and lovable characters, the 2004 Mean Girls has earned its spot at the top of countless fan’s favorite movies list.
Due to the film’s success, Mean Girls was adapted into a Broadway musical that premiered in 2018 and gained rising popularity for its soundtrack, casting, and costumes, among the already beloved plot the musical stuck to.
In 2023, as filmmakers searched for movies to break the box office, they decided that adapting this Broadway musical version of Mean Girls into a movie musical was their next best option to continue the franchise. While this idea was originally great, the problem many fans found when the time came to eventually watch the movie was that they weren’t aware it was a musical.
Sullivan Wise, a long-time fan of the original Mean Girls movie, went to see the newest take. She told us, “I did not know it was a musical, I think that’s why I was so surprised”.
Many fans shared this misconception due to poor advertising. The commercials, while effectively featuring actors, famous scenes, aesthetics, and countless other components, seemed to forget to highlight that this was not a movie, it was a musical.
Once fans got past the surprise of the singing, the movie was reviewed overall as “enjoyable and funny” by Emma Radick, a sophomore and another long-time fan of Mean Girls 2004.
Radick did enjoy the movie being a musical, but her problem was with the contrast between the movie and the Broadway adaptation.
She told us, “I like musicals, and the soundtrack was a bomb. My problem was with Cady,” who was played by Angourie Rice, She gave us nothing. Like, you have the whole song Stupid in Love, and all I got from her was stupid, no hints of in love.”
Many fans were excited about the casting, as Reneè Rap, one of the Broadway actors who plays Regina, and Christopher Briney, who plays Conrad Fisher in The Summer I Turned Pretty were set to play Aaron Samuels. But where many fans’ excitement originally played also turned out to be the area where there was widespread disappointment.
“I really liked Cady in the original, which really contrasted in this movie,” Radick told us. She also complained, “The emotion in the Broadway soundtrack, unbeatable. The only thing about the movie soundtrack that was good was Reneè Rap, everyone else kind of sucked.”
Disappointment for this movie seemed to be widespread, but even as there were lots of complaints, there were also wins that earned this movie some approval from fans.
Radick told us, “I hated Cady, like seriously, but Karen was really well cast. She had the dopey, doe-eye thing down so at least that was right. Also, Reneè Rap was amazing, period, which I expected.”
The directors of Mean Girls 2024 seemed to try and incorporate too many new things into this movie, and the failure to cast a musically talented actor as Cady combined with the lack of accurate advertising seemed to stir up mixed feelings among fans.
Although there are some undeniable flaws, as in any movie, there are still countless redeeming qualities; and even if every other part is horrible, at least viewers can watch Chris Briney; Go, Team Conrad!
Mean Girls is in theaters now, so go and be the judge for yourself!
