There's a new Mean Girls in town, but up until very recently, I thought I would just sooner pretend it never existed. Then I read CinemaBlend's Mean Girls review by our own Corey Chichizola and heard that the 2024 movie was available to stream on Paramount+. I decided to fire it up, knowing I wasn't a big fan of musicals, and was absolutely gobsmacked that I didn't just watch the whole movie, I enjoyed it as well.
The original Mean Girls was an instant classic, so to say the musical movie adaptation was even able to sniff its legacy feels like a huge compliment. To succeed on Broadway is one thing, but translating that success to another movie is a tall order that, quite frankly, few movies would be capable of pulling off. I'm joining my voice to the other critics praising this take on Mean Girls, and have some thoughts about why this movie worked for me despite thinking it was going to be a miss.
I Thought It Was Too Soon, Until I Realized How Much Had Changed Since I Was A Teen
As a millennial who saw the first Mean Girls when I was in middle school, I definitely thought it was too soon for a theatrical remake, even knowing the circumstances. It wasn't until I sat down and watched it that it clicked just how substantially the high school experience can change in about 20 years.
From the moment I saw the first smartphone in the movie, there was definitely a lightbulb that went off in my head. A change in tech as substantial as that would certainly have an impact on the story of Mean Girls, so I was glad to see that Cady used it when exposing Regina cheating on Aaron. It was a nice touch that showed to me just how different but similar the high school experience can be.
I also appreciated and noted the changes in the language used, especially when Mean Girls switched up what Regina originally wrote about Janis in the burn book. Times change, and while I will concede that there are probably still teens currently in high school who would use the original term at the drop of a hat, Regina George, as a character, doesn't seem like she'd cross the boundary. People feel victimized by her, but I don't think it was ever in a way that was bigoted or racist.
And for readers who may think changing up the dialogue is "woke" or soft, it's just a reflection of the modern generation. Mean Girls is a teen movie about the high school experience, after all, so if it were to fall short of relating to the current generation, it hasn't done its job. I still believe the message of the original movie makes it worth watching, but I don't think there's any denying that times have changed as well. Younger audiences today might sooner know Lindsay Lohan from her Irish rom-com than anything she did before Mean Girls.
The Musical Isn't A Shot For Shot Remake Of The Movie
No one wants a remake that is nowhere near close to the original. At the same time, if you make a shot-for-shot remake of a movie, people are going to wonder what the point in seeing the movie is. It's a delicate tightrope to walk, especially for a revival of a movie that's only 20 years old. That sounds a lot further away than I originally thought before writing that sentence, but at least it's not old enough to drink yet!
I haven't seen the stage musical of Mean Girls so I can't speak to how well it copies that, but I can say that this version is definitely a lot different than the Lindsay Lohan classic. The jokes are updated and the teens are different, but the major beats of the story are still there. Some parts are excluded, but it's never anything so egregious I was mad it was excluded. As an aside, I did love that the cut tank top was added into the TikTok segment as one of the best Mean Girls easter eggs.
There's never a written rule for how much a remake should change and how much it should keep the same, but with that said, the latest Mean Girls did about as good of a job as possible. Hell, I was just impressed we now have two versions of the Kevin G rap now to look back on, and I'll make the bold statement that the newest version is the best one.
There's Enough Non-Singing Scenes For Someone Who Is 50/50 On Musicals
I saw Hamilton and thought I had discovered I actually loved musicals after years of thinking I didn't. I saw In The Heights after our glowing review and realized maybe I'm not that big of a musical guy after all. Musicals aren't for everyone, which is probably part of the reason the singing was left out of some Mean Girls trailers.
I was aware the latest Mean Girls was a musical going in, so I knew what I was getting into. I'll even admit that when the story started with Janis and Damian singing, I had my hand on the remote, ready to exit out. I stuck with it, however, and realized that outside of the opening number, the singing slowed down quite a bit.
That might not be a hook to everyone, but if you're someone like me who loved the original Mean Girls and are deliberately holding off because you're iffy on musicals, I encourage you to fire up that Paramount+ subscription. You might be surprised, like I was, by how much you enjoyed it. Granted, I'm not sure I'm going to watch it nearly as many times as I have the original, but it's still a solid movie.
As mentioned, Mean Girls is available to stream on Paramount+. Give it a watch to see some of the classic gags from the original movie done in an entirely new way, and be on the lookout for a lot of upcoming movies in 2024.
