Everyone is familiar with the early 2000s cinematic masterpiece, Mean Girls (2004). Society still quotes it 20 years after its release, we all still love to watch it.
In 2018, Tina Fey made this already iconic movie even more so by turning it into a musical filled with catchy show tunes and pop diva hits with killer vocals. With the 20-year mark of the initial release of the movie, a movie adaptation of the musical was released with an amazing cast list including appearances from Tina Fey, Lindsey Lohan, Tim Meadows who plays the original Mr. Duvall, and one of Broadway’s Regina Georges, the queen bee herself; Reneé Rapp.
Going into the theaters to watch this, I was initially skeptical as I was a week late to seeing it and had already seen some reviews on the internet and they were a mixture of pure love for the movie or admittance of being underwhelmed. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but was ultimately excited to watch as a fan of the original movie and Reneé. Despite the few negative reviews I saw, the response to the movie was overwhelmingly positive and everyone was in love with the performances and humor of the movie.
The point of the live version is for it to be theatrical and humorous where even the serious moments have a sense of gaudiness that musical theater brings to stories. It’s enjoyable for viewers as they can sit back and not take life too seriously. The 2024 version of Mean Girls brought a level of emotion and depth that the live Broadway musical doesn’t quite have. This is most noticeable during the number “Someone Gets Hurts”, originally performed by Taylor Louderman. The live musical version takes on that more light-hearted, theatrical tone that is associated with Broadway musicals that makes them catchy and magical. The cinema version, performed by Reneé, has an eerie and dramatic tone with darker and more intense visuals that took my breath away. Taking a look at some other songs, the cinematic take on “Stupid With Love” brings a more pop ballad vibe to the number with slight schoolgirl vibes, compared to the musical version which brings out more of those theatrical and open vocals. Both the musical and cinematic performances of Janice were beautifully similar in their spunkiness and epic vocals.
Aside from the musical numbers, in the film, the acting itself was spot-on for each character. Regina was confident and fully embodied a mean girl, Janis was spunky, Cady was awkward and uncertain, and Damian was sassy and comical. Everything you expect from the characters that we all know from the original film was brought into this new release with a whole new cast.
Will it beat the original film version or the live-action Broadway musical? That’s up for interpretation and comparisons are killer, anyway. But rating it individually, I thought it was well done, did the originals justice, and gave all Mean Girls (2004) fans a taste of modern and iconic female-led performances and artwork.
