Written by Tina Fey
Directed by Samantha Jayne And Arturo Perez Jr
Regina: "My name is Regina George and I am a massive deal. Fear me, love, stand and stare at me."
Last month, I went back and rewatched/reviewed the original movie and now that I've had the time to catch up, it was time for me to watch this musical remake. I'm not gonna lie, it doesn't surpass the original but there's a lot of fun to be had with nevertheless.
Going over familiar territory, we've got Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) who with her mother (Jenna Fischer) traded in Kenya for Northshore and it's not long before everything felt familiar but that little bit different. Given that it's a musical, why not, right?
Cady quickly befriended fellow outcasts Janis 'Imi'ike (Auli'i Cravahlo) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), developed a crush on popular school boy Aaron (Christopher Briney) and of course, there was the Plastics. Yes, the reason the original movie was so iconic in the first place.
You've got Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood) and Karen Shetty (Avantika) and yet again, Cady went from befriendin them, scheming against them to becoming a tad worse than them. Like I said, it's familiar territory but being a musical certainly made things a little different.
Given how iconic the roles were for certain actors, I will give the cast here props. All of them are well cast in their respective roles with particular shoutouts to the likes of Reneé Rapp and Avantika really bringing a new energy to Regina and Karen.
However to keep things familiar, both Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles as Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall while there's fun performances from both Busy Philipps and Jon Hamm as Regina's mother and Coach Carr respectively.
- Lindsay Lohan appeared briefly as a moderator at the Mathletes competition while Ashley Park appeared as French teacher, Madame Park. She played Gretchen in the stage version.
- Originally this was slated for just a release on Paramount+ before getting a theatrical release.
- In this version, it's made clear that Janis actually is a lesbian, even getting a spring formal date as well.
- At one point in the movie, both Janis and Damian are watching Friday The 13th Part 2.
- Standout music: A lot of highlights but Cautionary Tale, Meet The Plastics, Apex Predator, Revenge Party, World Burn and Not My Fault.
- Chronology: It's definitely been updated for 2024.
Mean Girls (2024) might not quite hit as big as the original but it's a pretty entertaining update on a classic movie. The roles are well cast for a second time, the musical numbers are great and there's plenty of fun to be had. Plastic can be fantastic second time around.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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