2024 started off with an arguably disappointing remake of the iconic movie, Mean Girls, but what exactly was it lacking? Mean Girls was an integral part of pop culture in the early 2000s, mainly due to the entertainment value of the film, the costuming, and the overall message of girls supporting girls. Mean Girls set trends and produced a valuable learning lesson for teenagers everywhere.
So, what was wrong with the remake? For starters, the remake was not a rendition of the original movie, instead it was based on the Broadway musical that began running in 2017. While myself and many others enjoy in-person musicals, I personally don’t believe that musical movies are necessarily the most entertaining thing to watch. They have been done well before, such as La La Land and Mamma Mia, however I felt Mean Girls did a poor job at having a consistent plot throughout all the singing and dancing. I also thought that the singing and dancing portions were far too long and took away from some iconic scenes from the original movie, such as Karen’s ESPN joke. Although some of these scenes were not necessary for producing a good movie, it could have added to what little was already there.
The biggest difference I noticed was the costuming of this movie. It was clear that the producers were trying to appeal to the Gen Z audience that would be watching this film, by including unnecessary clips of the characters making tik toks, and random influencers being included with absolutely no rhyme or reason.
The costumes are where I really noticed this attempt to appeal to a larger audience. I mainly noticed that Janice, played by Auli’i Cravalho, was dressed in clothes that didn’t fit her personality in the original movie at all. In the original, Janice was dressed in her own gothic, artsy style that was meant to not be understood by others. It was supposed to reflect her love for art and how she did not care about being different.
In the remake, it’s clear that they “freshened up” Janice’s look and wanted her to portray a more modern goth, but this was unfortunately overshadowed by all the micro-trendy clothing she wears throughout the movie. The producers prioritized being relatable to a new audience, but they failed to realize that the reason why everyone loved the original Mean Girls is because it was effortlessly relatable.
The last thing that set me off when watching this movie was how there was somehow no central theme, even though the original did such a great job at conveying a message. Mean Girls was meant to highlight the fact that all teenage girls can be mean, rude, or a bad friend, and how important it is to be aware of how you treat others. Cady makes a great point in the original movie about how putting down others won’t make yourself feel better, and although there were parts of that in the new movie, I think the singing and dancing distracted from that.
In all honesty, the only good thing about this movie (in my personal opinion) was Christopher Briney playing Aaron Samuels. While I think it could have had potential, it is extremely difficult to top such an iconic movie as Mean Girls which brings me to say, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.