The 2024 remake of Mean Girls is a musical comedy centering around the sociological aspects of high school bullying among girls. The film stars Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys), Renee Rapp, Avantika Vandanapu (Senior Year), Bebe Wood (Love, Victor), Auli'I Cravalho (Moana), Jaquel Spivey (A Strange Loop), Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty), and Jon Hamm, Saturday Night Live alums Tim Meadows and Tina Fey reprise their roles from the original 2004 comedy. The original was based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin, the writers for the stage musical, joined the production to rework their songs for the cinematic adaptation.
The story centers around Cady Heron (Rice) as she enters public high school for the first time after being home-schooled in Africa. She is recruited by a couple of outcast friends to infiltrate The Plastics, a group of superficial, popular girls. Themes of bullying, self-esteem, and friendship are depicted throughout the film.
There are quite a few differences between this version and the original movie with the main differences being the incorporation of social media and the musical numbers, of which there are plenty. They also take out Cady's inner monologue, which was witty and let the audience in on some nuances in Cady's personality. When her persona shifts halfway through the new adaptation, it alters entirely.
While some of the changes in scenes and dialogue keep the same spirit as the original, others change the girls' personalities and the meaning behind each scene. For example, Cady doesn't save the Christmas performance by getting the entire audience to sing along (ironic considering this is a musical). Instead, they have Regina fall on her face. The whole school proceeds to cyber bully her. But when the entire school is full of bullies, it makes Regina's behavior less effective.
The songs are a mixed bag. Some of the musical numbers fit well in the storyline, others run too long, and some don't feel organic. Few are memorable. Having the movie start with two songs back-to-back set the pacing of the movie as slow and long-winded.
If viewers have qualms about seeing a remake with a 95% new cast, some of those fears might be put at ease with the knowledge that Regina is played by Renee Rapp, who played the same character for the last couple years of the musical. Angourie Rice does a wonderful job as Cady Heron. She is authentic, delightful, and engaging. However, the original film had Cady and Regina competing for center stage in every scene they had together. It is apparent in this adaptation that Regina takes over every scene, even if the main focus of the scene is Cady.
Rapp also excels in her role. Her singing and acting are powerful. Unfortunately, this script's character development for Regina shows less manipulation and more outright malicious bullying. Bebe Wood's portrayal of Gretchen Wieners is also done well. Gretchen's character arc is filled in more in this adaptation. This is possibly done at the disadvantage of Karen, who gets less screentime and whose character arc is wholly forgotten. Despite that, Avantika's Karen Shetty is appropriately lovable and naïve.
The costuming for the movie is questionable as The Plastics are overly sexualized, more so than the original. (What is the dress code at this school?) This is perplexing as Fey is fine with taking out Karen's "My breasts can tell the weather" line, though the costume department nonetheless proceeds to show plenty of her cleavage in each of her scenes.
This adaptation of Mean Girls is a twist on the original cult classic while staying true to the themes and messages. However, there should be a reason for remaking such an iconic film. Yes, some aspects are modernized, but not so much that the movie needed to be remade entirely. Diehard fans might be a little disappointed, while moviegoers who haven't seen the original might find it more enjoyable.