The original Mean Girls was such an iconic moment in pop culture history. It’s one of the most widely quoted movies that arguably shaped an entire generation of girls. The movie is so beloved that I did a whole project on how it was the greatest movie of all time. The musical is also fairly beloved by Broadway fans, as it’s nominated for twelve Tony awards. As a dedicated fan of the show and the movie, I saw the show when it toured in Atlanta, and it was such a unique experience, expanding on everything that made the movie incredible to create its own camp-theater kid fever dream; it was truly excellent. With a movie and a musical this popular, the new movie needed to be really careful and do both of these works justice and honestly, it fell a little flat.
The biggest problem with the new movie was that it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be the original movie or the musical. This was especially evident in the trailers, which made no indication that this was a musical adaptation and not a simple remake. Instead of committing fully to doing the musical justice, it tried to hit this middle, which I think is a shame. Songs were cut and rearranged, which I’m not sure had the desired effect. Some of the new productions were perfect with the cinematography, such as Regina’s “Someone Gets Hurt.” However, others, like the acapella “Stupid With Love,” didn’t do the original song justice. The movie was fun and so well taken, but I think it would have thrived if it truly embraced the stage show instead of hiding from it.
With vocal powerhouses like Auli’i Cravalho and Reneé Rapp, there was such potential for this to be incredible, musically. Most of the cast crushed it, with Avantika’s Karen being such a refreshing take on the classic character, Reneé bringing out this cold fierceness of Regina perfectly, and Auli’i being the Janice of our dreams. However, with a Cady cast for more of her resemblance to the character rather than her vocal chops, it made her songs far less impactful. Many of Cady’s songs that showed her vocal power like “Do This Thing,” and my personal favorite, “It Roars,” had to be cut for this reason, which hurt to lose. It was giving Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast —incredibly talented, but not a theater-power singer. Finally, Chris Briney, while the teen heartthrob of the 2020s, is no singer either. All songs where Aaron sings were cut for this reason, which is just sad because these are great numbers. Again, most of them killed it, but it would’ve been nice to see more singers in a musical.
I think there needs to be a separate paragraph about how absolutely incredible Reneé and Auli’i were in this movie. They were perfect foils of each other from singing style to clothing choices to their attitude. They really represented these two extremes so well and played off each other’s energy in such a great way, considering Janice and Regina have few interactions. Jaquel Spivey was also incredible as Damien. He brought the joy, the sass, and the personality that Damien needed. The fact that both of Damien’s solos were cut is so disappointing, because Jaquel would have absolutely slayed “Stop,” and “Where Do You Belong,” and I hope we get to see him singing them one day.
The movie did garner unfair criticism, though. Because it was never marketed as a musical (the title didn’t even have ‘the musical’ in it), many fans went into the theater and were shocked when the characters started singing. I think the marketing shot the movie in the foot for this reason. Not only were musical fans discouraged from seeing it for this reason, but it brought a lot of bad press that was unnecessary. The movie had a great diegesis, with it being clear when characters were singing in the world, and when it was a dream world. The music worked well for that reason, but it ended up being highly criticized.
Additionally, the costumes received a lot of flack for being too “Gen-Z” and “Y2K.” I disagree — Mean Girls is timeless for its themes and jokes, but it had an aesthetic that fit the time it was made. The outfits feel timeless because of the movie’s impact, not because they’ve stayed in trend. The cast was dressed in a way that felt natural to them. Reneé received some of the harshest criticism, with people saying “Regina would never wear that.” However, Reneé’s outfits fit her attitude and brought Reneé’s version of the character to life. She brought such confidence to the role, and her outfits enhanced that.
Overall, Mean Girls 2024 had its faults, but it was still a lot of fun. It was refreshing and enjoyable, even though it could’ve been better. Besides, I think that anything would go down better than the actual Mean Girls 2 (was that even a real movie???). Generally, stage musicals don’t adapt to TV well because they lean into this level of absurdity that you can only get on stage and not on screen. I think it’s a great pick for a fun girl’s night (although you all may end up falling in love with Reneé Rapp).
Rating: 7.5/10
