Mean Girls, lolita malgré moi

I really wanted to like this one. I really did. I love the original, and of course, i know this is a different movie, based on the Broadway musical based on the original (and all written by Tina Fey). Of course i know that there was no need for a direct remake, since the original was near perfection. However, this just didn't work. There was no chemistry, no motivation for the characters. I did like that it's done from Damian and Janice's point of view. But the rest of it feels flat.

The positives - Renee Rapp has a voice on her, as does Jeremy Spivey. For me they were the highlights of the show. There are some cute moments. Some new lines, but nothing really memorable or quotable.

So, meh. It was OK.

We decided to go see this even after seeing the subpar reviews. That's what it is, it is a worse but still not bad Mean Girls. Good for a reboot, bad for a Movie. I think that the casting for Regina is good, I was worried about Reneé Rapp but she was by far the best plastic. I think Gretchen was cast well, but Karen and Katy I think ruined the movie. The theater was empty. They should have gone all in on the musical aspect or not at all. There were maybe 4 songs that I remember but otherwise it was just them talking. It is almost the identical plot. Instead of watching this, or God forbid spending money on it, just watch the original Mean Girls again.

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.

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.

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.