Mean Girls Review: 'Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen'

"Oy, Fey."

Mean Girls, to this day, remains major pop culture iconography thanks to its incredibly memorable quotes, hilarious tropes, nostalgia and style. Tina Fey, writer and creator of Mean Girls, changed the game with the 2004 instant hit movie and we haven’t looked back. Fast forward 20 years and we have a new Mean Girls in the cinema. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since the original film when I find myself quoting it almost weekly. That being said, I really wanted to like the new 2024 version of the film, but it just didn’t grab me like the first, which will always be iconic and hard to live up to. 

Let’s start with the good, then move on to the bad, then the ugly. I’ve had a couple of days to digest since attending the screening of the film, and what I can say is I love the sense of nostalgia and excitement the musical adaptation brings to new and old audiences. (You guys know it’s a musical, right?) It’s bringing audiences who were fans of the original back to the cinema to see what the new adaptation is like, how it measures up to the original, and what’s changed. 

Seeing the film in a new light with the same characters played by new (younger) actors made me genuinely curious as to how they would portray now iconic figures like The Plastics and of course, Regina George. The new cast is indeed talented, and Janis Ian's character played by Auliʻi Cravalho was a stand-out for me with her vocals, really bolting every song and adding emotion behind every word. You may recognise Auliʻi Cravalho’s vocal chops from her acting debut as the voice of Disney’s Moana. Avantika Vandanapu’s portrayal of Karen Smith (originally played by Amanda Seyfried) soared with her comedic timing, and her musical number at the Halloween party was truly a highlight. Not to mention how refreshing it is to see a South Asian actor in the role portraying a beautiful popular girl who isn’t stereotyped into character roles we’re used to seeing on the big screen.

Source Instagram: @mingey

The characters and story are virtually the same with tweaks to cater to a 2024 audience and of course, there are the musical numbers where the characters burst into song. So if you’re not a musical fan I would probably skip this one. At times the songs were a bit jarring and just felt like too much. I wanted the story to move along and continue with the nostalgia of the original movie and just when you felt comfortable again watching the dialogue - boom - another song. I couldn’t help but feel it was overdone, but then again it is a musical so that’s what you sign up for. 

Spoiler alert, my favourite sound bite from the whole movie was a scene of Tina Fey about to give a speech and pretending like she was about to belt out a musical ballad herself before backing out and saying she’s not doing that. Her comedic timing and jokes will always land and there’s no questioning that from the genius who created the Mean Girl’s universe. Also, that cameo by none other than Lindsay Lohan herself felt like coming home. Seeing her take the screen and thrive gave me chills and the biggest cheesiest grin, the limit does not exist for how happy that moment made me. 

The musical adaptation felt like I stepped into a parallel universe and this film is the only version that exists in this warped space. I could definitely feel what they were trying to do by Gen Z-ifying the movie as a musical recreation for a new audience and pulling from the Broadway production, but it felt flat by not being a great musical adaptation and watering down the iconic scenes into musical ballads that felt disingenuous to the Mean Girls brand. I understand their wanting to create this version for a new generation but it doesn’t deliver in my opinion. I also don’t think it’s been long enough since the original film to create this new musical adaptation. Gen Z-ers can still enjoy the 2004 version, but it hasn’t been that long, has it? 

Another thing that stood out was the product placement - one giant ad for Elf Cosmetics. It shouldn’t be that obvious in the film to blatantly see the products and branding directed down the barrel of the camera. Regina George 20 years ago would whip out her Lancome Juicy Lip Gloss Tubes or Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil, am I wrong? And that brings me to the costume design. The Plastics and the rest of the cast’s costume designs felt off and didn’t match the characters. The Plastics are known to rule the school, and have wealthy parents, so why didn’t we see them dripping in the best or at least pull something a little more stylish for the fits rather than an off-brand version? The cultural impact of the outfits from the first film alone trickled down into style for the next few years with mini skirts, Halloween costumes and accessories. 

Also, the digital takeover. The new adaptation really wanted to push the social media narrative this time around and included TikTokers in clips talking to the camera as if we were watching their TikTok. I just felt these scenes weren’t needed to further the Gen Z narrative and took you out of the film a little bit. 

Finally, the Burn Book and jokes didn’t feel mean enough, the jokes were made to cater to a more PC audience. I guess you can’t make some of the same jokes to suit today’s societal landscape and remain politically correct, but after all the movie IS called Mean Girls and no doubt what’s being seen and heard in schools and across the internet today by teens is far more brutal than the jokes made in 2004. 

I watched the original Mean Girls film after watching this musical adaptation as a palate cleanser and you just can’t beat the original. It was always going to be difficult to live up to a cult classic but it just can’t be touched. I think musical theatre fans will also leave the cinema a bit disappointed with this one when there are already so many great musical films to choose from, plus the live Broadway production that exists.

Overall, I think the new film just tried to do too many things at once by trying to adapt the stage production while also trying to recreate the original film. Recreating a pop culture favourite movie is hard and adding musical numbers to it makes it almost impossible. In saying so, I say millennials should watch it for curiosity and to relieve the nostalgia, and that Linsday Lohan cameo! There will be pieces of the film you will enjoy and giggle along to, plus you always have the original to come home to.

Images and screening tickets provided by Paramount Australia.