Homeschooled Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) lands in high school and finds herself drawn to the Plastics clique. The movie’s sharp social critique of school-based cliques is a smart, funny take on the modern world.

The Story

From the comedic mind of Tina Fey (and co-writer/producer Lorne Michaels) comes a lively musical spin on the 2004 film that updated and mythologized high school gossip culture for a new generation. Director Samantha Jayne and screenwriter Arturo Perez Jr. pay proper deference to the original movie, but they also aim to make their version stand on its own. The result is a sly, gleeful take on teenage cruelty with a surprisingly moral twist.

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The Mean Girls movie story follows sheltered naif Cady Heron (played by 30 Rock’s Angourie Rice) as she enters the high school social hierarchy led by the gang of shallow blonde “plastics,” ruled by Regina George (Renee Rapp). Though the scheming queen bee attempts to welcome her into the group, Cady’s heart lies with the boy she used to have a crush on, Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney). The Plastics aren’t going to let that go unchallenged.

As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that petty revenge is not enough for Cady. She wants to make Regina and her gang see that their contempt for one another is what really makes them ugly.

Mean Girls features a host of talented performers, including Bebe Wood as the insecure Gretchen and Avantika as the vapid Karen. And although Lindsay Lohan’s teen-star status is a liability for this solarmovie film, she’s got plenty of talent and humor to make the role her own. The movie does lose some steam in its final act as it begins to veer into the territory of traditional teen movies complete with a preachy, sentimental and somewhat limp moral ending.

The Cast

When the original Mean Girls premiered in 2004, it shook the teen movie world and left behind a legacy of high-school-themed memes. Its shrewd social critique, broad styles of humor, and the fact that it didn’t take itself too seriously were what made it memorable, and still are today.

This new version of the film, which has already debuted on Broadway, brings all the same elements together in one package. Tina Fey writes the script and produces alongside Lorne Michaels, and 30 Rock composer Jeff Richmond provides the music.

The cast is solid, with Auli’i Cravalho as Janis, a pierced art punk whose self-described anthropology of high school cliques is actually quite astute; she creates an authentically gritty everygirl who has a knack for turning the tables on Regina and her fellow Plastics. Rachel McAdams still has the same brittle charm as the queen B, and her sidekicks Karen Smith (Lacey Chabert) and Gretchen Wieners (Amanda Seyfried) are likewise skilled manipulators.

New to the cast is Jacquel Spivey as Damian, the florid bohemian outlier who’s mocked as being “too gay to function.” Despite having a skewed sense of what constitutes high-fashion, she delivers her lines with a knowing verve that smashes any hint of condescension.

The Music

For the most part, the musical aspect of this Mean Girls flop was disappointing and forgettable. There were some standout performances from Renee Rap, BB Wood, and Aly Calo but overall the songs in this movie are forgettable and drab. The choreography was also underwhelming and the recreations of some iconic scenes were shoddy and uninspired. This new version of Mean Girls is a cash-grab remake that fails to live up to the original film and Broadway show.

Tina Fey’s 2004 teen comedy is a cult classic for a reason: it resonated with a generation of snarky, socially conscious kids who grew up in a world where sarcasm was the only form of civil discourse. But it is a bit of a shame that this movie was so repackaged into a TikTok-themed musical (with some B-tier jokes from Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next) that it loses its edge.

Fey’s screenplay tries to tame the brutality of the Plastics in line with a more progressive sensibility (for example, Regina’s self-inflicted Burn Book insult is now “ugly cow” instead of “slut”). However, that reworking robs Mean Girls of some of its bite and gives it a distinctly milder flavor. As a result, this remake feels like it was made by people who didn’t understand the original movie or the zeitgeist it captured.

The Script

The original Mean Girls is a teen classic with enough iconic quotable lines to last a lifetime. But when it comes to adapting the film for TikTok-loving Gen Z, a lot of the snark isn’t there anymore. The new Mean Girls isn’t as biting, especially when it comes to its rewrite of the Burn Book that deems Regina George “a fugly slut” and not just “a bitch.”

While this may be understandable given how much teenage culture has changed in the years since the first film was released (for the better), it makes the movie feel less like a clever social commentary than a rote teen comedy with a few more pop songs. The cast is fine, but they can’t make up for a script that seems to want to be both kid-friendly and adult.

This isn’t to say that Mean Girls 2024 isn’t a good movie. It’s just not as fun. Tina Fey is a great actress, and her performance as Cady Heron is fine. But it’s Renee Rapp’s take on Queen Bee Regina that truly steals the show. Rapp’s Regina isn’t just a persnickety devil in a Santa miniskirt; she’s an apex predator ready to eat the girls at North Shore High for breakfast. Her sexy, breathy voice adds to her character’s scheming and arrogance. Follow Guest Column for more!

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