Geek Review: Mean Girls (2024)

Get in, losers, because we’re going back to North Shore High. Creator Tina Fey’s Mean Girls (2024) is the latest entry into the entertainment franchise as an updated remake of Fey’s Mean Girls (2004) and the Broadway musical of the same name (which Fey also created). The film keeps the lighthearted, comedic tone of the original while sending an important message about individuality and the consequences of bullying, with plenty of vocal powerhouses in its cast. 

Renee Rapp, who plays Regina, chief mean girl and leader of the Plastics, has also played the character on the Broadway production, which fans might recognise. Auliʻi Cravalho, most prominently known as the voice of Moana, plays Janis, who dislikes Regina after a past betrayal. Avantika and Bebe Wood play the other members of the Plastics, ditzy sidekick Karen and insecure second member Gretchen, respectively. 

There’s been plenty of notable Broadway stars who have played protagonist Cady Heron in the musical, including singer Erika Henningsen who originated the role, and singer Sabrina Carpenter made her Broadway debut in the role as well, though her planned run was cut short by the pandemic. With big shoes to fill, Angourie Rice (Betty Brant in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films) struggles somewhat to bring the character to life. Rice has been in several big films and TV shows including Black Mirror as a supporting character, but has never acted in a musical film before this and it shows. 

Mean Girls (2024) sticks to the classic story – transfer student Cady Heron moves to North Shore High from Africa, gets sucked into the world of the Plastics after queen bee Regina George takes her under her wing and discovers the Burn Book, where the Plastics write disparaging remarks about the other students of North Shore High. Cady eventually becomes just as mean as Regina is, and things spiral out of control soon after.

There are some well-received narrative changes, like Janis coming out to Regina, and the central conflict happening when Regina falls embarrassingly on stage instead of the Plastics flawlessly finishing their talent show performance. 

Renee Rapp, Avantika, and Bebe Wood deliver a solid performance as the Plastics, with plenty of heartfelt moments and magnetic charm the trio are known for. Regina is every bit as vindictive and revenge-thirsty in the musical, delivering powerful numbers like ‘World Burn’ and ‘Not My Fault’. Gretchen has more development in the new movie, though her character is less memorable than the other Plastics. She does gets a heartfelt number “What’s Wrong With Me?” about her friendship with Regina, where she pours out her insecurities to a clueless Cady.

Karen, the third member of the Plastics, and played by Avantika, is every bit as dim-witted and ditzy as the original character, though her name is changed from Smith to Shetty to reflect the actress’ Indian-American heritage.

Rice however, does not hold up to Henningsen or Carpenter’s Cady in the Broadway musical, and is less expressive than the character is known for, often looking confused in most of her scenes. While Broadway musical Cady is much more provocative and ‘unhinged’ as a character, Rice’s Cady is more muted than both the original film and the musical, turning upbeat, spunky musical number ‘Stupid With Love’ about her crush on jock Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney) into a slower, more daydreamy love ballad. There’s no mistaking the presence of autotune in her solos, and her lack of Broadway training could be a reason why certain Cady parts of songs like ‘Apex Predator’ were given to other characters.

Janis ‘Imi’ike, who also got a name change to reflect the actress’ Polynesian roots, gets plenty of time to become a fan-favourite. Auliʻi Cravalho packs plenty of spite and anger into her portrayal of Janis, an outspoken outcast with more to her than she seems, and her ‘Revenge Party’ and ‘I’d Rather Be Me’ solo has the character at her best, sounding almost like original Broadway actress Barrett Wilbert Weed.

You can’t have a modern update without TikTok or iPhones, and the film offers some commentary on blindly following online trends, though ‘A Cautionary Tale’ and ‘Sexy’ are almost entirely filmed in a TikTok-esque frame with black borders. The transitions are rather jarring, shifting viewers from Janis’ garage to the savannah to North Shore High with a lazy flip of a curtain or shutter.

The movie isn’t a faithful adaptation of the original Broadway musical either – some songs are cut from the film ( ‘It Roars’, ‘Where Do You Belong?’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Stop’, ‘What’s Wrong With Me? (Reprise)’, ‘Whose House Is This?’, ‘More Is Better’, ‘Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise)’, and ‘Do This Thing’), though it does have a new Regina solo ‘Not My Fault’ written for the movie.

Recurring motifs appear throughout the musical’s songs, and the exclusion of certain songs results in confusing continuity. The distribution of singing lines is also switched up at times, taking away the nuance of having certain characters sing their parts.

In a win for modern feminism ‘Sexy’, becomes an empowerment anthem with a lyric change that audiences loved, switching it up from “I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in” to “Watch me as I run the world in shoes I cannot walk in.”

The film struggles with whether it considers itself as a musical or not, opening up questions about how self-aware it is. Cady is unaware she is in a musical, and the movie makes it clear that her solo numbers, especially ‘Stupid With Love’, are going on in her head. However, in ensemble numbers like Apex Predator and Revenge Party, it becomes less straightforward. One ensemble member references singing ‘Revenge Party’ during the gymnasium confession scene, hinting that on some level, the characters are aware that they live in a musical.

Lindsay Lohan, who plays Cady in the original film, returns at the end as an adjudicator, commenting that a tie in the competition has only happened once, making a call back to the original Mean Girls. Do Mean Girls (2004) and Mean Girls (2024) exist in the same universe? The film offers no confirmation, but seems to hint at such conclusions.

Mean Girls (2024) premieres in theatres in Singapore on 22 February 2024.