The latest iteration of Mean Girls arrives in theaters to satiate nostalgia for the 2004 cult classic, but brings a little more to the table. With timid commentary and failed attempts at accommodating modern audiences, “Mean Girls” is a fun watch, though utterly substanceless.
Combining the overall plot of Tina Fey’s 2004 film and 13 of the 21 tracks from the 2018 “Mean Girls” Broadway musical, Fey’s latest movie jumps back into the reign of queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp, reprising her role from the Broadway musical).
Despite closely replicating the 2004 film’s plot progression, the movie seemed to exist more as a parallel reality to the “Mean Girls” world audiences know and love. The appeal of the original “Mean Girls” was the courage to represent, though admittedly overexaggerate, the raunchy and outrageous reality of high school. While altering language like “slut” to “cow” and removing lines like “boo, you whore” to fit changing audiences, the movie lost its bite. Compounded by the frequent inclusion of TikTok style clips and vertical videos, “Mean Girls” turned into another failed attempt to identify with Generation Z viewers.
Additionally, this interpretation of Regina felt more blunt than manipulative and more untouchably cool than deceivingly fake. The tinge of authenticity and redeemability to Regina’s personality made her one dimensional and far less cunning. Acutely aware of the original personas, many characters found little new or even comparable depth. Though standouts Karen Shetty (Avantika) and Damion Hubbard (Jaquel Spivey) retained their character integrity while bringing new life to the screen.
Torn between a musical adaptation and film remake, the movie is decidedly neither. Cutting over one-third of the Broadway tracks and even eliminating sections within songs themselves, “Mean Girls” functions more as a movie with random singsongy interludes than a musical. Despite the unshakable feeling of a forthcoming song, every transition to a musical number proved jarring. Often characters would just start singing without a change in camera angle or any other differentiator. Rapp and Auli’i Cravalho’s (playing Janis ‘Imi’ike) technical abilities and vocal prowess, however, stole the show.
The songs themselves reduced time for plot development, thereby hindering the movie’s pacing. Scenes from the original film, like the three way calling attack and Cady’s makeover, were condensed or cut out. Though seemingly inconsequential, these rudimentary scenes gave insight into character relationship dynamics and how they changed over time. Without them, the film bounced between main plot points without exploring how things happened. However, the quality production, catchy tunes and familiar plot satisfied most requirements for an enjoyable movie.
With the overall vibe of the previously built universe intact, the latest “Mean Girls” makes for an entertaining watch, but its original depth and grit got lost in translation.
2 ½ e.l.f. products out of 5
