The 2024 Mean Girls movie was released on Jan. 12, 2024. The film stars Angourie Rice (Cady Heron), Auli’i Cravalho (Janis’Imli’ike), Renee Rap (Regina George), and Christopher Briney (Aaron Samuels).
If you have not seen the Mean Girls movie, it follows Cady Heron who moved from Africa to public school, she meets the “outcasts” Janis and Damien, but then is invited to sit with the plastics, the coolest girls in school. Cady goes from a “home-schooled jungle freak” to the most popular girl in school but risks losing some friends along the way.
Janis, Damien and Cady originally planned to destroy Regina George (the queen of the Plastics) using Cady as there in, but popularity took over Cady and she became the new queen of the Plastics. At the end of the movie, Cady learned to accept herself and gained her friendships back by just being authentic.
When watching ads and promotions for the movie, the fact that it was a musical stayed hidden. It took many people (while they were sitting in the theater) to realize the movie is based off of the Broadway performance not the movie, which may be a huge disappointment to some fans.
Throughout the movie, the actors break out into song and dance while the camera work spun around left to right, up and down, leaving the crowd dizzy. The most known songs include, “Meet the Plastics” and “Stupid with Love” which in the online world struck controversy.
Many fans of the Mean Girls Musical disliked the version of “Stupid with Love”, it was not seen as “passionate” as the live stage performance. Some audience members left the theater as they did not want the original film to be ruined for them.
Renne Rap played the original Regina George on Broadway, most of her songs were able to captivate that same style. On the other hand, Angourie Rice who played Cady Heron was not able to perform that same style. People thought her singing sounded boring, neutral and heavily fixed with autotune.
Another factor that stood out was the use of promotions and advertisements specifically for the makeup company Elf. Viewers noticed the odd amount of times an Elf product was placed or named by the actors.
Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprised their roles as Ms.Norbury and principal Duvall. They were also joined by other names such as Busy Phillips playing Regina George’s mom and Jenna Fischer playing Cady Heron’s mom.
Towards the end of the movie, a surprise guest star Lindsay Lohan has a small part in the movie to connect to the original 2004 fans. She however left disappointed by a joke made in the movie, feeling attacked by the movie and the actors.
The Los Angeles Times writes, “Lindsay Lohan, who played Cady Heron in the original “Mean Girls”, took offense with a quip that referenced a fire crotch.” Her publicist spoke out saying the joke was hurtful and she was disappointed that the joke references Lohan.
While the movie may not have been “fetch” and many of the songs did not quite meet expectations, the film was still light-hearted, filled with comedy, and paid homage to the 2004 film. The Plastics still live on as iconic popular “mean girls” and the movie has impacted generations still reciting lines today. It may not be worth your money to see in theaters but I would give it a watch when it becomes available on streaming services.
