Mean Girls is undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon. Despite coming out nearly 20 years ago, the movie has managed to stay socially relevant. The humor still holds up today, and so does the message the movie was trying to convey. The wild success of the first movie has led to a 2011 sequel (although that has been critically panned), a 2018 Broadway musical, and most recently a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was released on January 12th. Initial opinions of the movie have been mixed, and I can see why. Personally, I consider myself an expert on the Mean Girls musical. Not only have I been listening to the soundtrack since it came out, I’ve been in the show itself, playing Ms. Norbury, Cady Heron’s sarcastic math teacher. I feel as though I am qualified to talk about the things the musical movie got right, and the many things it also got wrong.
No one likes ending things on a bad note, so let’s start with the negatives of the movie first. One big issue I personally had with the movie was the vocals and instrumentals for many of the songs. The casting of Angourie Rice as Cady was one of the biggest offenders for this. Angourie Rice is a fantastic actress in movies like Marvel’s Spider-Man series, Honor Society and Ladies in Black, however she is not a singer. Instead of casting someone who can sing, they changed many songs like “Stupid With Love” and “Revenge Party” so she could sing them. As a theater kid, I’m tired of casting non-singers in singing roles. There are many talented and capable people who could have played Cady Heron. The movie already had many big names to draw in viewers, so why not cast an unknown to highlight? Another big issue I had was the movie’s overall look. The way they filmed the movie made it look more like a parody than an actual movie. I don’t know what they did, but it just looked weird. Many costumes were also poorly done, especially with Regina George. At one point, she wore a fuzzy black crop top, and NEON GREEN PLASTIC TRACK PANTS. I’m sorry, but Regina would NEVER wear something like that. Overall, the movie just lacked a lot of what made the original movie and musical great. It honestly really hurt. I spent months excited for this movie, and I just kept getting less and less excited as more and more things came out about the movie. Cut songs, weird camera angles (If you know you know), bad singing and weird costumes, all come together to make something completely devoid of heart.
While the movie overall was pretty bad, there were some positives. Renee Rapp was a powerhouse as Regina (weird costumes aside) and Bebe Wood and Avantika were great as their characters as well. However, for me the real stars were Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey as Janis and Damien, respectively. They truly embodied their characters, but added some new and fun aspects that made me see those characters in a new way. They were definitely the best parts of the movie for me. Another small, but amazing thing I loved about the movie was making Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall an official couple. As a former Ms. Norbury myself, I have such a weird attachment to her, so seeing her happy and loved made me very very happy. The negatives of this movie definitely outweigh the positives, however, there were some excellent aspects to the film.
So, what’s the verdict? Do you see the movie or not? Hey, I’m just a college student with a weird attachment to a musical, what do I know? But, here is my opinion: if you feel compelled to see it, then do it! If you don’t, don’t. I’m simply giving my honest review. Like it or not, the movie has made a lot of money at the box office. Mean Girls has managed to stay a socially relevant movie for nearly 20 years, and it’s not going away anytime soon.