the frustrating failure of the Mean Girls musical movie (rant review)

if you’ve seen the musical, how does this movie compare??

honestly these characters would just get HORRIBLY bullied by the plastics for being such try-hard it girls

The plastics in the og movie dressed how wealthy teen girls would think successful women dressed. When Regina first invites Cady to sit at their lunch table, shes basically wearing the teen version of a power suit. In her mind, she's the CEO. Gretchen wears preppy clothes, the youthful version of lawyer. They very much did their best to seen above their fellow high schoolers.

My biggest criticism of this movie is that it was made with the expectation that they audience already had watched the og movie. It doesn't show Regina's true meanness bc they already expect you to know. It doesn't dedicate time to showing the Plastics' dynamics bc it already expects you to know how they work around each other.

The movie creators didn't seem like they understood that Regina isn't just a mean rich pretty girl bully, she's a charismatic dictator and a celebrity of her high school at the same time. Also they didn't understand the themes of girlhood and high school presented in a campy way and why they were so important and connected with so many people. So thank you for this review 💖 as I don't think I'm gonna be watching this movie

The reason Janis seems more soft than the original is because she is. They took away the core aspect of what made her and Regina two sides of the same coin: her rage. Without that driving her to urge Cady to go as deep as she did, it feels more like a game she's playing, she's trolling Regina just to troll her rather than it being a personal vendetta to ruin her like she was ruined. Her lack of rage and actively wanting to stop at a certain point also takes away some of the blame from Janis's shoulders and shifts it over to Cady because Cady doesn't want to stop, actually, so it looks like she made the active decision to trade up, which makes the party betrayal hurt more for Janis, and makes her singing I'd Rather Be Me more justified than in the musical. Janis being canonically a lesbian in this version makes her the only iteration of the character who could reclaim the slur that was used to ostracize her in the original, but due to the changes they made to her backstory, she never did, and as a lesbian who embraces that specific term myself that annoys me lol.

Janice in the original even says it herself. "At least me and Regina know that we're mean." 'I'd rather be me' is so tonedeaf storywise, considering it's about not caring what others think of you, and not giving in to petty games and revenge... When that's all Janice has been doing this entire movie.

in reference to the costuming: as someone who's currently in high school their attempt to show Regina as a trendy teen made her look wayy older than she was supposed to be (which confused the hell out of me in her first appearance). I can tell you for a fact that no one our age dresses like that except for going out at night on weekends. it also made her look like she's about to go to a rave after algebra.

In this version, I feel as though the plastics are like a random clique instead of the rulers of the school. Like sure, they're pretty and dress nice but so do most of the ensemble. There isn't much of a difference between them and everyone else so it feels forced when they do those shots where the school as well as internet celebrities are reacting to Regina on social media. In the first version, the plastics really stood out from everyone else. They wore bright colors while everyone else wore dull and muted tones. The plastics had designer handbags and pumps while everyone else wore backpacks and sneakers. It gave them a status of being unattainable while now the plastics wear dated micro trends that anyone can replicate very easily. As a result, the entire movie feels forced and unrealistic.

I liked what you said about “telling us” vs “showing us”. I find modern movies nowadays keep telling us what has happened rather than show us. So the scene of Jingle Bell Rock made me so confused because I didn’t see Cady be charismatic. She was also hidden in the back most of the dance. I also find Cady didn’t not have the charisma as the original. She is supposed to be able to look both good and innocent and then transform into a mean girl but I couldn’t see that. She just looked normal? Like she needed more charisma so that when she transforms to a mean girl then it’s obvious why people would follow her

If they wanted to give Janice some fire and make her gay still, they could've said that Regina outed her before she was ready...not rly hard to spin that.

Dear Hollywood, Stop making sequels and stop making reboots. Be original and actually good. period.

Everytime someone trots out the tired "Don't take it too seriously" argument, I'm reminded of a line from The Birdcage: "This may only be a drag show, but it still needs to be a good drag show, if possible, a great drag show." Just because something is primarily made for the sake of entertainment is not an excuse not to put genuine effort into it.

as a fan of the musical, what left me very disappointed with this movie was the fact that they really wanted to hide that it was a musical, not only in the advertising but in the movie itself, cutting out so many important songs.

Cady’s expressions/mannerisms remind me of Debby Ryan in Radio Rebel

While I appreciated that they left out Coach Carr's inappropriate relationship with his teenage students, they could have at least given Jon Hamm more to work with. Same goes for Jenna Fischer and Ashley Park, though I did like the small reference to Principal Duvall and Ms. Norbury being in a relationship.

I was hoping that we'd get your two cents about the musical movie, and you didn't disappoint! While I'm a huge fan of Angourie Rice, she felt miscast as Cady, and it was obvious that she didn't have the same musical background as most of the other cast members. As the main protagonist, Cady is supposed to act as a surrogate to the audience, but when she's surrounded by more colourful characters such as Regina, Karen, Janis and Damien, then she comes across as bland in contrast.

i feel like although mean girls is camp, the politics of popularity and girl problems are subtle. you see regina being calculated and manipulative, but it's underneath the surface - because that's how a lot of teen girls fight. They can't be openly aggressive and also be liked and "girlie/feminine". in the 2024 version it's all on the surface, where she's aggressive and verbally mean - which loses the entire point

One thing I've been noticing is that pacing in media made for younger zoomers is TOO FAST. Maybe because that generation is known for really short attention span and the writers and directors are doing their best to capitalize on the main audience's focus and interest

I mean I get they wanted the fashion to be more current but WHY did they for y2k when there is old money, hidden luxury and clean girl aesthetic? That would have worked so much better for the plastics P.S. When I say Y2K, I mean the 2020 fast fashion version of Y2K.