The world was first introduced to the Cady, the Plastics, and the students of North Shore High in the iconic 2004 film Mean Girls. After being reimagined for Broadway in 2017, the cult classic is returning to the silver screen with a musical twist.
The film stars Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, Reneé Rapp reprising her role as Regina George, Auli’i Cravalho as Janis ‘Imi’ike, Jaquel Spivey as Damian Hubbard, Avantika as Karen Shetty, Bebe Wood as Gretchen Weiners, and Christopher Briney as Aaron Samuels.
Reprising their roles as Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall are Tina Fey and Tim Meadows. The original Cady Heron, Lindsay Lohan (spoiler alert) also makes a cameo as the Math Moderator.
Ashley Park, who was nominated for a Tony for her role as Gretchen Weiners in the stage production, appears as the French teacher, a nod to her role in Emily in Paris.
Early promotional trailers teased the film as “not your Mother’s Mean Girls.” Despite being a real gut punch to millennials, the sentiment is true: this film is made for a new generation.
From the moment the film opens, it’s clear we are leaving behind the world of 2004 Sidekick phones for the technological advancements of 2024 iPhones. Audiences are introduced to Janice and Damian through the viewfinder of a phone camera as they struggle to make a TikTok. We also return back to this format as Karen films a grwm for Halloween.
These modernizations put some scenes into a perspective that 2004 teens could have never imagined. In the original film, Regina plots her revenge by photo-copying the Burn Book and distributing flyers across the school. The information stays within the walls of North Shore High. However, in this film, Regina drops the physical Burn Book in the middle of the hallway, and students take pictures of its contents and post them all over social media. Janice’s line, “That’s only okay when I say it,” hits even harder because at that moment Damian hasn’t just been outed to the school, but to the entire internet. At moments, this realization is easily anxiety-provoking.
Another realization that hits like a big yellow school bus is Regina’s disordered eating. Reneé Rapp has been very vocal about her own struggles with body image that were exacerbated by her experiences as Regina on Broadway. In an interview with Call Her Daddy, Rapp shared how a producer’s unwarranted suggestion for a costume change made her spiral even deeper into her eating disorder. Unlike the first film, which only shows Regina’s experimentation with dieting fads, we see Regina running for hours on a treadmill to lose weight. It humanizes Regina and her struggle, accentuating how mean Cady, Damian, and Janice’s revenge plot truly is.
Although some of these updates help to tell a more modern story, some of the most iconic scenes from the original film are noticeably absent, including the four-way call. Some of these adaptations were made to prepare the story for the stage and musical numbers. However, some of these omissions make the story less cohesive. For example, Janice, Damian, and Cady’s step-by-step explanation of their revenge plan in the original film allowed viewers to see and understand how Cady could slowly morph into “cold hard plastic.” In the new adaptation, Cady just appears all of a sudden with more makeup and an attitude.
We can’t accurately review a musical adaptation without talking about the music. Nominated for Best Original Score at the 2018 Tony Awards, the music is a big draw for Broadway fans. However, the trailers noticeably omitted this aspect from all advertising. Surprise, Mean Girls is a musical! Fans who knew what they were getting into were notably disappointed by the music, especially with the song “Stupid With Love.” Expressing their disappointment on social media, one user on X wrote, “I don’t even wanna get STARTED on the bullshit beat changes they did for Sexy and Stupid with love, they took away the SOUL and heart of those songs.” However, Fey really made Fetch happen by giving Broadway fans Rapp’s version of “World Burn” to listen to and watch in perpetuity.
Social media also had some pretty hilarious commentary on the VERY prominent product placement. Lunch tables are littered with Oatlys, bublys, and Perriers, while elf blushes and lipsticks are placed conspicuously on desks and in the actor’s hands. Even when Regina drops her lipstick in the bathroom sink, it magically falls logo side up. But hey, someone has to pay these film production costs, right?
Despite the differences, this new film is like the torch pass at the end of the original Mean Girls when the former Plastics see the new freshman Plastics. We can only hope that this next generation has this film, or perhaps another one, that will raise a generation in the same way the 2004 film did. This film definitely has a brilliant cast going for it with Reneé Rapp at the helm ready to defend her friends even against Buddy, the bus guy.