20 years ago, ‘fetch’ may not have happened, but Tina Fey’s hit comedy ‘Mean Girls’ very much did, holding fast to the cultural eye as one of the most quotable, memed and instantly recognizable movies of the 2000’s. In 2018, Fey brought the story to Broadway, and this January it came full circle, with an adaptation of the movie exploding onto theater screens as Cady Heron and the Plastics meet the social media age.
The new cast steps into the pink shoes of the original with ample energy, seizing the occasion to deliver several star-making turns. Reneé Rapp returns to her breakout Broadway role as Regina George, and unsurprisingly dominates the film, commanding every scene she struts through with dominating charisma and the show-stopping vocals that have made her one of the fastest rising stars in the business.
Also exceptional is the duo of Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey as Janis and Damian. Playing one of cinema’s greatest pairs of BFF’s, they have tremendous chemistry and great comic timing that sell some of the film’s most pivotal emotional moments. Both have impressive musical resumes, and this shines through every moment they’re on screen, feeling right at home. Cravalho in particular gets the perfect chance to release the full force of her talents in the climatic ‘I’d Rather Be Me,’ a bold declaration of a bright career awaiting beyond her days as a Disney princess.
It’s easy to forget just how young the cast is, most younger than their counterparts were in the original film. As Karen, Avantika Vandanapu may be the youngest of the main cast - the only one still actually a teen - but keeps up with her costars effortlessly, with the confidence of a talent that’s been headlining for years. She embraces Karen’s proud ‘no thoughts, just vibes’ energy in a way that never feels too mean-spirited and knocks each line out of the park with a perfect reading, building up to her show-stopping turn with ‘Sexy,’ that, combined with Rapp’s powerful ‘Someone Gets Hurt’ make the Halloween Party the best sequence in the film.
Unfortunately, as much as I’ve been a fan of Angourie Rice since her breakout turn in 2016’s ‘The Nice Guys,’ I have to acknowledge her as the cast’s weak link. As Cadie, she plays the part well but, in an unfortunate turn reminiscent of Russell Crowe’s Javert, it quickly becomes apparent that in a cast surrounded by musical stars, her vocals aren’t nearly up to the tasks being demanded of them by the songs.
That observation, in many ways, segways into the weaker underbelly of the film. Much was made of the reluctance by Paramount to market Mean Girls as a musical, and now that it’s here, that trepidation is clear in the project’s DNA. This is certainly not the fault of its directorial duo - Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. guide the action with a shared vision that clearly understands the genre more than many directors who have recently taken a stab at it.
But too often Mean Girls holds itself back rather than fully embracing where it comes from, creating a muted ambience that the directors and cast are never fully able to pull it free from. This is most clear to fans of the Broadway show, who will immediately recognize that many of the songs have been rearranged, set to a slower rhythm than their original stage versions. This creates a disconnect between the frantic action on screen and the more smooth ‘pop’ music being sung, especially in otherwise visually thrilling numbers like ‘Revenge Party’ and ‘Apex Predator.’
The script is also diluted - Fey could have benefited from a co-writer this time around. While her revamped script is deft at balancing classic lines with new zingers, it is also very plainly the work of a middle-aged comedian afraid of getting canceled on TikTok. The toxic teen culture of North Shore has one arm tied behind its back in 2024; the bullying amounts more to passive aggressive judgment than cruel spite, its titular mean girls feeling more sardonic than actually, well, mean. A second writer closer to high school than Fey could have maintained the bite of the original in a voice authentic to the current generation of bullies.
That said, what brilliance does break through shines bright. Contrary to proclamations of remake doom, the energy and talent of Mean Girls’ stars and production team make this an absolute blast to kick off a new year of movies. Thank goodness Paramount made the call to release this in theaters, where a lively crowd can laugh and bop along together, instead of dumping it on streaming. I’ll be wishing on a pink plastic star that its success will motivate studios to fully embrace the magic of musicals once again.
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