'Mean Girls' Review: Tina Fey's Catty Plastics Return in Musical Form Wearing Shorter Claws
Whoever tried to pull a “Connor's Wedding” promo on Mean Girls 2024's marketing deserves to get hit by a bus. Like Wonka, there was no reason to closet a movie musical’s musical identity, especially since this made-for-Paramount+ update on Tina Fey’s iconic flick got the last-minute graduation to theatrical release. This Jersey-shot production had a few dollars, a tight three-week shoot schedule, and a dream. And would you look at that? Mean Girls was a fetching good time.
Mean Girls
PG13: Sexual material, strong language, and teen drinking.
Runtime: 1 Hour and 52 Minutes
Production Companies: Broadway Video, Little Stranger
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Directors: Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr.
Writer: Tina Fey
Cast: Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auliʻi Cravalho, Christopher Briney, Jaquel Spivey, Bebe Wood, Avantika Vandanapu, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Jenna Fischer, Jon Hamm
Release Date: January 12, 2024
Exclusively In Theaters
From Africa's safari to the North Shore high school, student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) meets her school's elite clique, "The Plastics," led by the meanest Barbie, Regina George (Reneé Rapp). Beneath her are her besties, keen need-to-please Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and dim-witted Karen (Avantika). To her mistake, Cady crushes on Regina's ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), and it's like a fight in the Amazon for power. For the gazelle to learn how to take down the lion, Cady turns to her new outcast friends, rebellious Janis (Auli'i Cravalho) and diva king Damian (Jaquel Spivey).
Full disclosure: my nostalgia for the original Mean Girls started about two weeks ago. I know. How could I have missed it for that long? Upon first viewing, I instantly recognized why it was placed on a pedestal. It's also the perfect 2004 time capsule because of its dated humor. That’s also applicable to the 2018 Broadway adaptation that retains the source's signature adolescent angst accompanied by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin's poppy tunes.
To its strength (and detriment), the Mean Girls musical feature significantly updates its prior iterations with a more progressive and conscious mindset fit for the current TikTok crowd. Tina Fey wipes the slate clean of all the race, homophobic, and pedophilic – could've done something different with the wasted Jon Hamm cameo, though – jokes. The same goes for the updated song lyrics that match Fey's progressive pen. I appreciate how the film reflects the landscape in today's youth, allowing the characters to happily fit into their queer identities and allowing for a diverse ensemble to fit into these familiar roles.
Husband/wife directing duo Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. provide endless energy across the filmmaking behind each number. Their direction continues the original’s technique to get the viewer intimate with Cady, replacing her observant narration with inventive, dreamlike numbers, signifying her emotions. All the musical numbers pop with vivid imagination and colorful, cinematic backdrops. Sexy” – a fun party number that gives Avantika's London Tipton-esque take on Karen her time to shine, and “Apex Predator” as Cravalho and Spivey's rock-meets-Broadway vocals accompany the spirited animalistic motions in dance choreography mark as a few favorites for me.
Mean Girls’ ensemble fit into their roles well enough. Angourie Rice is delightful in her innocent, wide-eyed notion as Cady, especially during her plastically superficial moments. The subversiveness of the ditzy Indian girl in Avantika’s Karen derived many laughs. Auli’i Cravalho is magnificent as this iteration’s Janis, a proud lesbian rebel with a rockstar persona. She exudes that spirit we loved her for in Moana with timely, punk angst in her lively performance. Now let’s put her in every movie for she is as animated as her iconic counterpart.
Then there’s Reneé Rapp, whose comeback as Regina George following her short time on Broadway in 2020 is worth the Dolby Cinema price of admission alone. She flawlessly embodies the character’s signature scornful traits and dominant attitude while adding her liberating remix. I’m sorry if it reads as a stretch, but during “Someone Gets Hurt,” I jotted, “It’s giving Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend’ for Gen-Z.” It’s been a while since an actress’ display of power and seduction during a musical number sent shivers down my spine. Her vocal range, unbridled confidence, and comic timing are that of a ‘50s starlet… and a gay-coded Disney villain. Rapp’s Regina is both.
Unfortunately, Fey sanitized the script of all its outdated elements so hard that she lost the “mean” aspect. There are a few suggestive jokes here and there, but overall, the tone plays as if Fey was scared that kids with little media literacy would call her problematic on social media. There’s no need to replace social suicide with social runious or “south side” with grad school. Look at Do Revenge and Bottoms, recent beloved teen comedies that let their characters be mean and flawed while not offending anyone with their risque humor. R rating on those titles be damned! The examples are right there, Tina! There's no reason to trim the fangs on your girls. I shouldn’t be walking away from Mean Girls feeling like Regina George can’t take on the girls from Bottoms. She did this like Illumination did The Grinch.
The humor and character dynamics are often sacrificed for musical numbers, dragging the pacing down. It amplifies Cady’s crush on Aaron and her friendship with the outcasts while throwing her friendship with Regina and The Plastics to the wayside for most of its runtime.
For a final product that evoked a charming, classic Disney Channel original movie meets Glee aesthetic, I couldn’t help but fantasize about how grand the numbers would've been if the execs were clear on its theatrical decision from the get-go. As far as teen musical movies go, thank God it finally washed that Dear Evan Hansen stench out of my mouth. Could’ve done with less handheld but, whatever.
Mean Girls’ fangs might’ve been too trimmed, but this musical adaptation bridges the old story with a fresh lens anchored by its talented, spirited cast and imaginative musical sequences.
Rating: 3/5 | 61%
