20 years have passed since the original Mean Girls film. The film left a mark on generations, had its most famous lines become part of everyday vocabulary and was even adapted into a Broadway musical.
20 years later, Mean Girls (2024) has been recreated for the screens, this time in the form of a musical, with a new cast, a few new plotlines and many songs from the Broadway’s libretto.
I’ve always found the Mean Girls’s soundtrack to be very different from other musicals, which had more serious and storytelling lyrics. The songs were a funny and easygoing sung version of the film, which I actually really enjoyed since I thought they went along with the witty atmosphere and the not-too-serious plot of the original movie.
Some of that wittiness and fun of the Broadway show was unfortunately lost in the 2024 movie. Although some of the actors had lovely voices and good presences, I wasn’t struck by Angourie Rice’s interpretation of Cady. It was a bit dry in some of the scenes, in a way that simply could not be associated with Lindsay Lohan’s charming and bubbly interpretation of the character. Janice’s (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian’s (Jaquel Spivey) performances were probably the most convincing. The dynamic and wonderfully ironic Apex Predator brought us all back to the theatre classes whose first exercise always had to be “pretend to be an animal”.
All things considered, I confess I did feel as if the songs were written for the stage and that their potential wasn’t fulfilled in the movie. One example is the song “Sexy,” which is arguably one of the funniest and most popular songs of the musical. Despite the fact that Avantika Vandanapu gave a great performance of Karen, portraying a caricature of her traits fans most love, the song and dance looked a little out of control and I’m sure many ended up not completely satisfied.
One thing that was painfully impossible not to notice was the blatant and artless E.L.F. advertisements. If that didn’t make you cringe or roll your eyes a little bit, I applaud your composure. It is one thing to accidentally leave one too many products on the vanity, but to have Regina George, who we know wouldn’t have touched anything cheaper than $20, carelessly drop an E.L.F. lip gloss, seemed a bit forced.
The moment that was arguably one of the best of the 2-hour film presented itself when each one of us in the cinema was starting to lose hope. Lindsay Lohan’s cameo as a judge at the Mathlete Championship was extremely nice to see and seeing her familiar face in the Mean Girls franchise surely warmed up some loyal fans’ hearts.
I thought a lot about the best way to describe Mean Girls. I feel like the final product can only be compared to the one movie every theatre kid tried to shoot at 13 years of age with their childhood friends.
We all once wished this to be the result of those three hours of stress and excitement, but, as adults who are aware of what a well-produced film looks like, it is impossible not to be slightly disappointed.