The beloved 2004 movie “Mean Girls” caused a complete cultural reset in its era, and now a new generation gets the pleasure of seeing the plastics in theaters. Stars like Reneé Rapp, Angourie Rice and Auli’l Cravalho performed a musical rendition of Tina Fey’s vision to combine the movie and Broadway musical version of her piece into one cohesive musical film.
The movie closely aligns to the original movie and musical storyline, following the life of Cady Heron (Rice) as she moves from Africa to America. She attends Northshore High where she meets Janis (Cravalho) and Damien (Jaquel Spivey), and the pair then convince Cady to befriend “The Plastics”: Regina (Rapp), Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika Vandanapu). Throughout the film, Cady navigates public high school, friendships and relationships for the first time and meets a series of challenges along the way.
While Cady struggles with the reality of being a high schooler, it was evident that the actress playing her struggled as well. As well as straining her vocal abilities, Rice’s scenes felt awkward and stiff, especially her choreography. While Cady’s character is meant to feel out of place, Lindsay Lohan, who played Cady in the original film and has a cameo in the new movie, managed to make her feel more naive than uncomfortable. In addition to Cady, both Karen and Gretchen’s actresses also felt out of place with their lines and scenes.
Despite some of the cast being disappointing in comparison to previous actors, Rapp as Regina was stunning. Her vocal performance was the most impressive of the new cast, and her representation of Regina managed to encompass all of the high standards that Rachel McAdams had set for those who follow her. Her rendition of “Someone Gets Hurt” was vocally and visually enchanting and manages to top even Taylor Louderman’s performance in the original cast recording of the Broadway musical.
An aspect of the movie that also surpassed the musical was the visuals. While during a live performance there are a number of limitations, during the movie the producers were able to do much more with their creative vision. Being able to cut and transition from one scene to another was much more seamless and impressive. The filmmakers also used the characters filming themselves on their phones as a way to add variety and help aid with those transitions. It made the famous four-way call scene much more modern for new viewers.
Though nothing will be able to top the cult classic film, the revamp of “Mean Girls” was a fun new twist for anyone who enjoys a musical. Though there were moments where the film seemed a touch too modernized or theatrical, it was an interesting take and watch. Though fans of the original movie might not see the appeal, the movie is a great watch for anyone who found joy in its broadway rendition.
