From the comedic mind of Tina Fey, comes the new twist on the classic, Mean Girls. New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is getting welcomed into the top of the social food chain by an elite group of popular girls called the Plastics, ruled by the deceitful queen bee, Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika Vandanapu). However, when Cady makes the major mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), Regina’s ex-boyfriend, she soon finds herself caught up in their machinations. Cady is determined to take down Regina with the help of her new outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) while navigating the challenge that is high school, in a musically charged movie.
The movie premiered in New York City on January 7 and was theatrically released in the United States on January 12. Despite the long-awaited release of the movie, it pales in comparison to the original version when it comes to profit. Domestically, “Mean Girls” the musical movie made approximately $67 million, $26 million Internationally, and $93 million Worldwide. While the original “Mean Girls” caused a big bang by grossing $130 million worldwide back in 2004, an immense difference.
I would not consider myself a big “Mean Girls” fan, however, I cannot help but be surprised at the amount of backlash the movie received from the theatrical side of the fanbase due to its differences in acting. Some comments and reviews state that the songs do not have as much emotion as the musical, or that the movie was severely lacking. I for one agree; there is a certain element missing. Instead of passionately filled singing, it feels more like I was watching a high school play. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 70% in the Tomatometer, while the audience gave it a lower score of 63%. Normally Rotten Tomatoes is known for their harsh reviews, so it was unexpected that the audience was harsher. Additionally, if you look up reviews for the new movie, the average rating is one star.
The songs were mostly based on the Broadway musical, which most viewers were eager to see. The soundtrack consists of the following songs: ”A Cautionary Tale”, “What Ifs”, “Meet the Plastics”, “Stupid With Love”, “Apex Predator”, ”What’s Wrong With Me?”, ”Sexy”, “Someone Gets Hurt”, “Revenge Party”, “World Burn”, “I’d Rather Be Me”, “I See Stars”, and last but not least, “Not My Fault”. Compared to the Broadway musical, I feel the songs needed more work. The lyrics were similar, but the delivery was lacking. On the other hand, one of my personal favorite songs was “Someone Gets Hurt” sung by Reneé Rapp. he antagonist of the movie, I felt she did a great job at portraying the character just as in the original movie and the musical.
It felt like the movie was lacking in detail throughout the story. They changed the reason for Janice and Regina’s hate for each other, from a misunderstanding in the original movie, to cruelty in the new one. They did not properly portray Regina’s mastermind self, and Cady made the switch from sweet girl to mean plastic way too quickly. In the original movie, Cady still feels a bit of guilt when messing with Regina, and only becomes cruel after inviting the school to a party. Yet in the new one, she seems to have no remorse after gaining attention, as if the old her was nonexistent. The songs were not as enjoyable as the Broadway version, and I would have rated the movie lower were it not for Reneé Rapp’s excellent performance as Regina.
As a stand-alone, it is a decent movie. However, the expectations that came with the remake made the comparison with the original inevitable. The movie is meant to be filled with jokes and witty remarks like the original, but the way they portrayed it made me wince multiple times among the few decent jokes. If you look past some of its flaws and sped-up story, (And fans are bound to look over it) you can sit through it. Being seen as a classic already guarantees views. However, I would not pay to see it again in theaters. 5/10
