The “Mean Girls” musical, which debuted in 2017 on Broadway, was a commercial success. Written by Tina Fey, the musical went on tour nationally for many years. “Mean Girls” has become one of the most popular musicals in recent years and was nominated for 12 Tony Awards.
Recently, the copyrights were made available to the public and subsequently, theaters around the world have begun performing their own renditions. I have personally seen the touring production, listened to the soundtrack thousands of times and am currently involved in a production of “Mean Girls”. That being said, this movie is…interesting.
Most of the songs from the original musical were cut in the film, and the songs that were kept were horribly mixed. The internet has been especially harsh on Angourie Rice, who played Cady Heron, for her performance in the film. Her performance of “Stupid With Love” has recently gone viral on TikTok because it was so bad.
Among the bad, there were some good aspects. Renee Rapp reprised her role of Regina George once again after playing her for a time on Broadway at the ripe age of 19. Rapp’s performance was definitely one of the stand-outs of the film, as well as her original song “Not My Fault” with Megan Thee Stallion, who was featured in the credits.
Fans of the original film will be pleased to see both Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles as Mrs. Norbury and Mr. Duvall, respectively. An exciting surprise addition to the film was the reveal that Mrs. Norbury and Mr. Duvall are in a relationship.
While many changes were made from the source material, some things stayed the same. Regina still got hit by a bus as students watched.
One unexpected aspect of the film has become a viral meme: product placement. Viewers have been dumbfounded by the amount of advertisements featured in the film, most of which were from e.l.f. Cosmetics and Seat Geek.
Another thing that has been improved upon is the casting diversity. Damian, Karen, and Janis are all now played by people of color. Seeing a character like Karen, who is typically the basic dumb blonde, being portrayed by an Indian woman was very inspiring.
Overall, was it the best movie? No. Was it better than the stage version? No. Was it better than the original? Definitely not. Was I entertained? Sure– and really, that’s all you can ask for.
