Mean Girls

Wish they put their own spin on it instead of recycling the same jokes and changed the music to be 'less offensive' I guess. However when I didn't hear 'Janice is a space duke' I was very upset (from a member of lgbtqia+ community).

Renee Rapp and Auli'l Cravalho were absolute perfection in this movie and were the only 2 cast members to bring something different to the role. They had so much fun with it and you can tell that they didn't need a lot of direction as this comes naturally. The reactions from cast and crew felt like a GCSE drama piece but the dancing was fantastic. I'm a massive theatre fan but this was the only movie musical I found myself begging them to stop singing (apart from Renee and Auli'l)

I don't know where Angourie Rice was pulling that Cady Herron from but what a snoozefest, I found her flat, boring and just uninteresting to watch. Would be interesting to see what someone else would have don't with the role.

I wouldn't watch again.

2004's Mean Girls is an all-time classic film. The Broadway musical adaptation of more recent vintage is a solid and engaging adaption of it. This re-framing of the original and the musical is an odd--and largely ineffective--mishmash of the two that needed to "pick a lane".

For a very basic overview, Mean Girls is a quasi-remake of the '04 original, featuring new-girl-to-school Cady Herron (Angourie Rice) being shepherded by friends Janice (Auli'i Cravalho) & Damian (Jaquel Spivey) through the high school experience--most notably the Plastics trio of Regina George (Renee Rapp) and her minions Karen (Avantika) & Gretchen (Bebe Wood).

I'll start with the one piece of good news here: there are just enough entertaining songs in this flick to keep it from being outright boring. "Revenge Party" & "Sexy" are absolute bangers, and a few others are quite engaging too. There were a few times when I was ready to metaphorically throw in the towel on Mean Girls, but then another song would unspool and keep me hooked a bit longer.

The big problem with this sequel/update/reboot, however, is that it tries to have its cake and eat it too. Had this been a "Mean Girls for the next generation" flick, I think it would have succeeded wildly. Unfortunately, despite elements of that approach, it is far too "shot-for-shot-remake" of the '04 version to tell much of a new story.

Or, writer Tina Fey could have simply done a more straight-up adaptation of the Broadway musical--which is fantastic! That show is filled with heart and the proper homage to the original material without being burdened with repetition of it.

Sadly, this version tries to walk the beam between the two and ends up tumbling off. It simultaneously feels like an unnecessary remake of the original and an unnecessary clipping of the musical. Not even some great musical numbers can mitigate that.

For those of you who are fans of the Broadway musical, here is a list of the missing music: "It Roars" (replaced with a song that's not as good) "Where Do You Belong?" (What were they thinking by leaving out this showstopper?!) "Meet The Plastics" (Only Regina's first few verses were sung. Gretchen & Karen's parts were cut) "Fearless" "Stop" (Again, what were they thinking by cutting out a showstopper?) "What's Wrong With Me" (reprise) "Whose House Is This?" "More Is Better" "Do This Thing"

This is supposed to be a film version of the musical, not a remake of the original fetch & flawless film. So, leaving out so many songs was a bad idea. The characters all suffered from this choice; they all seemed too bland.

Cady did not sing "Apex Predator." Instead, Damian sang "And though Janice is great, she does not have this power," while Janice shrugged. This was such a poor choice, because we didn't see Cady falling under Regina's spell. Gretchen's changing relationship with Regina didn't play out well. The actress who played Gretchen captured the character when she spoke, but when she sang "What's Wrong With Me" in Regina's closet, it just didn't make me feel for her. Something got lost in translation.

A lot of the comedy was lost in this version. Although "Sexy" was filmed well, Karen just wasn't as funny as she was in the 1st movie or the Broadway version. Damian wasn't as funny; without his biggest songs, he didn't shine.

"Fearless" may not have been the biggest hit song, but I felt the loss of it. There needed to be a sharply hit moment when Cady realizes she is the new Queen Bee, freed of her oppressive relationship with Regina. The original film used voiceover to convey that realization and the musical used the song "Fearless." The film musical kind of glossed it over.

Another thing that was missing was the image of all the plastics walking together, all looking beautiful and glamorous. "Being in the Plastics was like being famous." On Broadway, "Apex Predator" captured that feel, but in this movie, the song focused on Regina alone and lost the power of the clique.

The Plastics just weren't feminine enough. Everyone looked too tough. It was like this version took place at the "south side" school that the principal said he left in the original. Even the nerds didn't seem nerdy enough. Regina started out looking like she had already been eating Calteen bars for months and we didn't see her change after Cady tricked her.

The chemistry between Cady and Aaron also did not come through. Leaving out "More Is Better" and the Aaron's part in "Stupid With Love" didn't help.

"I See Stars" was a magical finale on Broadway, but this film did not end with musical magic.

What did I like? "Revenge Party" was still lots of fun and it was filmed in a colorful way. "World Burn" was done well, and "I'd Rather Be Me" had a great energy.

Cady literally could not hold a tune in this MUSICAL movie. Renee was phenominal as well as 90% of the supporting cast. However, I thought that the way they redid the iconic rock songs seemed lazy and the camp theme from the broadway musical just was not hitting the same. Really felt like they were holding back with the jokes and the meanness of the movie. Cady was more unlikable than the main mean girl which is really saying something. The casting of Cady really put a bad taste in my mouth the whole movie - they took the OG songs and gave her parts to other cast members because she couldn't even hold a tune. Whoever her agent is needs to be fired bc why would they put that poor girl in a musical.

Acting is horrible. Cringe. It's basically trying to be mean girls with no originality and creativity. Would've been better with all new characters and plot. Taking from the original and having these actors portray the original was not a good call. Overacted and forced all the way. I felt embarrassed watching this with my husband. Nothing was funny. Also, why does all the high schoolers look like they are in their thirties. I want 2 hours of my life back. This was horrid. The musical part of the movie was hard to sit through too. It would've been much better with new characters and plot that identifies more to Gen Z. Just not funny or worth the watch.