Mean Girls Movie (2024) Review

Written by Eleanor

Mean Girls, the new movie musical, is based on the successful Broadway show of the same name which was, in turn, based on the 2004 film. The story follows Cady (Angourie Rice) as she moves from being home schooled in Africa to attending a typical high school in America. Upon meeting a group of respected and feared girls known as ‘the plastics’ (Reneé Rapp, Avantika and Bebe Wood), Cady tries to infiltrate them. As the infamous Burn Book creates chaos in the school, Cady is forced to reflect on her actions and find a way to make peace within the school and with her friends. Although I could not quote the original film word-for-word, I have seen it numerous times. A couple of the Broadway songs are on my repeated playlists, but I was not wholly familiar with the entire Broadway soundtrack. With an awareness of the discourse already brewing around this film, due to the early release of the soundtrack, I entered the cinema with an open mind.

The film opens with Damian (Jaquel Spivey) and Janice (Auliʻi Cravalho) singing directly into a phone camera. This instantly draws your attention to how new and modern technology will be used in the film. This film has been promoted as not ‘your mother’s Mean Girls,’ as it reflects how modern youths operate - which is with a mobile device on hand. This works particularly well during ‘Sexy,’ making for a visually interesting scene. But it’s a shame that it is not used to introduce the audience to a wider range of school students, allowing you to then put names to faces later in the film. I also found the way the music was referred to throughout the film, and the tonal shifts this caused, a little odd. For example, there is a moment when Cady, Janice and Damien look up to find their backing singers sitting in a tree above them. This was a funny moment, but there are no other occasions which show they are cognisant of the fact they are singing. A similar moment also occurs among the teachers, but then never again. Scenes such as these need to have been included more frequently or not at all.

At the beginning of the film, we are quickly introduced to Cady in Africa, who wants to form a proper social group in an ordinary high school. Replacing ‘It Roars’ from the original soundtrack, ‘What Ifs’ has been added for the film and the orchestration is relatively stripped back. This allowed Angourie Rice to show her character's quiet and sweet nature and convey how Cady wants to make the most of this new experience. However, I enjoyed the changes made to ‘Stupid with Love’ far less. The lack of humour throughout did not really work for me and, although they created a slightly richer sound with the use of backing vocals, the overall sound was still lacking when compared to the original version. This overall introduction did not help me warm to Cady much as a character. From the outset, it felt like she was a passenger in a story being told from her perspective. And because I did not warm to her, potentially because a lot of the songs do not include her, I then didn’t find myself rooting for her as the film progressed.

The other students at North Shore High School include outsiders Damien and Janice. I really enjoyed Auliʻi Cravalho’s version of ‘I’d Rather Be Me’ and thought this sequence as a whole really fit with updated character. Similarly to other numbers, I still felt that the orchestration let the song down, but this did not detract from Auliʻi’s excellent vocals. The other main Mean Girls clique is ‘the Plastics’. I really enjoyed Avantika’s offbeat version of Karen and Bebe Wood perfectly captured the nuance of Gretchen. But there really was not a lot in the script for these actresses to work with. Like the school itself, all focus is on Regina George. I thought Reneé Rapp’s version of ‘Meet the Plastics’ was the perfect introduction to her character. I really enjoyed the way she way she would shift between friendly and spiteful throughout the film. But my favourite scene of Reneé’s had to be when Regina realise that Cady had turned on her. The images on screen, the lighting and the acting led to such a perfectly dramatic moment. Although I did miss the impact of her actually throwing the pages of the Burn Book into the school corridor.

Following the release of the Burn Book, the story arc of the rest of the film is very similar to that of the original; it ends with Cady going to the maths competition (I loved a specific cameo in this scene!), and then arriving late to Prom to reunite with her friends and apologise for what she has done. The final song ‘I See Stars’ feels like quite a weak ending to the film, with most of the song not sung by one of the main characters. Instead, it feels as if the song within the credits is the actual last number of the film, which helps Mean Girls to end on a high.

Overall, I quite enjoyed Mean Girls. I can see why fans of the original film may not necessarily be keen on a more modern take. I can also understand how fans of the original musical may not appreciate this new adaptation. However, in going in rather blindly, I thought this was a fairly good standalone film. I do think that releasing the full album early was potentially a mistake, as some of the musical choices made more sense with context. However, I did not come away feeling that any of the changes made were improvements upon the originals. The orchestrations and the soundtrack make the musical numbers feel more like pop songs, with some scenes appearing like an extended music video because of this. I cannot fault the vocals and characterisation of Regina and Janice, but very little was given to the rest of the ensemble and I did not connect with the character of Cady very strongly. I do think people had very high expectations of this film and it is not necessarily the game-changer that some may have hoped for. But this adaptation made for a fun evening and I came away excited for when the Mean Girls musical makes its depute in the West End later this year.