Most people don’t enjoy being mean. Maybe Regina George did, but then she got hit by a bus and found lacrosse.
It’s possible that my critique of the new “Mean Girls” movie may sound mean. Please know that they come from a place of love and admiration for both Tina Fey’s original 2004 teen comedy and its recent Broadway musical adaptation that served as the main source material for “Mean Girls” 2024. (Yes, that sentence is an ironic realization of a nearly two-decade-old “30 Rock” joke.)
Starring: Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Jaquel Spivey, Auli'i Cravalho, Bebe Wood, Avantika.
Rating: PG-13 for sexual material, strong language and teen drinking.
Did we need a third iteration of the “Mean Girls” story? Who’s to say, but the Fey-penned one hitting theaters Friday is a mixed bag. Moviegoers with no prior relationship to the “Mean Girls” musical will likely have no qualms with its breezy sensibilities and unique presentation of songs that were probably quite difficult to translate visually from the stage to screen.
As a theater lover with a particular affection for that show, though, I have some notes.
Just like its predecessors, “Mean Girls” is centered around new North Shore High School student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice). She quickly bonds with resident “art freaks” Janis 'Imi'ike (Auli'i Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (Point Park University graduate Jaquel Spivey). Those two convince Cady to befriend North Shore queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) so they can learn her secrets and hopefully take her down a peg.
Cady finds herself in a strange, plastic world ruled by Regina and her inner circle that also includes mentally broken busybody Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood) and sweet, simple Karen Shetty (Avantika). Cady’s lie begins to become her truth as she goes full throttle in her quest to humble Regina and earn the affection of her crush, Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney).
The original “Mean Girls” remains remarkably fetch 20 years later, and its stage version updated the story of one high-schooler’s slow descent into adolescent depravity while infusing it with an infectious soundtrack that has become staples of this critic’s iTunes library. “Mean Girls” 3.0 may not please everyone, but it’s genuinely cool that this musical will be much more accessible to the general public going forward.
At its core, this is still the “Mean Girls” everyone knows and loves. Many moments from both the 2004 movie and stage musical are re-created beat for beat, though of course there are also plenty of new jokes and observations about the contemporary high school performance to supplement all that nostalgia.
Every Broadway adaptation has to choose which numbers make it to the big screen for the sake of pace and run time. Fans of the “Mean Girls” musical may be disappointed by the songs that didn’t make the cut, even if in retrospect they may not have been the most important in terms of moving the plot forward. There’s also a bafflingly bland new track that essentially replaced another, far more engaging Cady song.
Vision wasn’t the problem that plagued directing duo Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. when it came to staging the film’s musical set pieces. There are a few fascinating filmmaking choices sprinkled throughout “Mean Girls,” like the decisions to incorporate cell phone screens into multiple numbers and pause the action entirely as Regina seduces Aaron during “Someone Gets Hurt.”
How they ultimately executed those ideas, however, was inconsistent from song to song. To be fair, that might also be a product of certain arrangements that made otherwise lively tunes sound noticeably flatter. Most of those sequences were salvaged by solid choreography and passionate performances from everyone involved, even when the directing and editing threatened to derail them.
Rice does a fine job conveying Cady’s awkwardness but doesn’t totally pull off her transformation into a Regina clone. Maybe she was trying to show that Cady was never capable of going full plastic, but Rice’s overall performance just isn’t as memorable or complete as what Lindsay Lohan accomplished in 2004’s “Mean Girls.”
Rapp, on the other hand, somehow manages to create a modern Regina George worthy of Rachel McAdams’ iconic turn as North Shore High’s meanest mean girl. She delivers terrifyingly icy glares and displays subtle comedic chops while crushing songs like the vengeance-minded “World Burn.” Jayne and Perez’s smartest directorial touch was largely filming Rapp in a way that makes Regina feel like the horror movie monster she has always been.
Spivey and Cravalho developed impressive chemistry that really shines through as they tag-team the animal-themed “Apex Predator” and the lavish, candy-coated “Revenge Party.” Spivey’s Damian easily got the most laughs per line in my screening, and Cravalho provided the film’s showstopper with her exuberant rendition of Janis’ self-respect anthem, “I’d Rather Be Me.”
Shout outs are also in order for Wood, who really drove home what a tragic figure Gretchen is with her soulful take on “What’s Wrong With Me?,” and Avantika, who did justice to Amanda Seyfried’s pioneering ditz and also brought the proper amount of pep to the boisterous Halloween ode “Sexy.” It was also delightful seeing Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their 2004 roles of Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall, respectively.
No one should feel personally victimized by “Mean Girls” 2024. It’s got an extremely game cast, fun musical moments and enough Gen Z-friendly authenticity to avoid feeling like another ubiquitous “30 Rock” meme.
Just about everything else, though, may leave “Mean Girls” diehards and newbies alike confused, disoriented and — for some Pittsburghers — wondering why they left the South Side for this.
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: January 12, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: January 12, 2024, 10:51 a.m.