Tina Fey’s new film-musical version of Mean Girls exhibits a critical charisma gap

The phenomenon of a non-musical film being adapted into a stage musical and then made into a film is surprisingly common, as recent films such as that of 2023 The color purple and the 2022 Matilda show. Some of those adapted movie musicals have even eclipsed the original film versions in pop culture legacy Hairspray And Small horror shop.

The 2024 Mean girls is the latest entry in this very specific genre. It is an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical, itself an adaptation of the 2004 film starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The new Mean girls probably carries a greater burden than movie musicals of the past, adapted from musicals adapted from movies, in that the original film left a huge impact on pop culture and came out right at the dawn of the Internet age, making it was set up for a specific species. of cultural longevity.

Directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., making their feature film debut, have a tough time, even armed with a script by Tina Fey, who returns after writing both the musical and the 2004 film. They make some baffling choices , such as keeping a number of Nell Benjamin and Jeff Richmond songs from the Broadway show that don’t really emphasize the cast’s singing, at the cost of cutting some more fun and dynamic songs.

But they also do a pretty good job of updating the details of the high school drama for the age of social media. Powered by a (mostly) stellar cast, who make the iconic characters their own and show off their spectacular singing voices, Mean girls is a nice little update, although it never surpasses the experience of the original film.

(Ed. remark: This review contains minor setup spoilers for Mean girls (2024), as well as the original 2004 film.)

Just like the first movie, Mean girls follows Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed teenage girl entering North Shore High School for her freshman year after a lifetime of homeschooling in Africa. She struggles to fit in, until the artsy Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) take her under their wing. Unexpectedly, Regina George (Reneé Rapp), the school’s most popular and ruthless student, decides to invite Cady to sit with her and her faithful lackeys, the Plastics: the dim-witted, beautiful Karen (Avantika) and the insecure secret keeper Gretchen (Bebe Wood). ).

At first, Cady ignores Janis’ warnings about Regina, but then Regina sweeps Cady’s crush Aaron (Christopher Briney) out from under her nose for no other reason than petty jealousy. So Cady joins forces with Janis and Damian to infiltrate the Plastics and take down Regina.

The cast of Mean girls (2024) has a lot of big shoes to fill, both from the original film and the Broadway musical. Most of them perform, flex their vocal chops and bring their own flair to the larger-than-life characters – except Rice. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the strong singing voices of Rapp or Cravalho, or the comedic timing of Spivey or Avantika. She brings a beautiful wide-eyed naivete to Cady, but her singing doesn’t hold up, especially compared to the rest of the cast.

This wouldn’t be such a glaring problem if the first few issues weren’t primarily about her. To accommodate Rice’s singing voice, Cady’s initial solo was changed, and some of the more vocally challenging parts in the group songs went to other characters. The first part of the movie just flirts with being a musical: Jayne and Perez Jr. dangle better singers and songs in front of the audience without fully committing to them, instead dragging out a few uninspired songs like the new-to-the-musical “What If?” and Cady’s romantic overture “Stupid with Love.”

Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount

Fortunately, those boring songs aren’t indicative of the full-throttle musical theater the film ultimately embraces. When Jayne and Perez Jr. for the film to become the musical it should be, it’s an incredibly fun time. The two best songs – “Revenge Party,” an ensemble song-and-dance routine with a montage of Cady, Janis and Damian returning to Regina, and “World Burn,” Regina’s big villain song – are absolutely gorgeous. They are also the ones who most emphasize the theatricality of the musical version and embrace what it is intended to be.

Musicals are often heightened versions of reality. How else do you explain the periodic interruptions in song and dance? As such, all the characters are even more heightened versions of their original counterparts. And the actors deliver. Cravalho and Spivey are dynamic, grittier and more dramatic than the versions of their characters in the first film, which makes sense in a musical with huge group numbers that they headline.

Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount

Rapp’s Regina, in turn, is more murderous and ruthless, with an iconic voice that permeates the rest of the soundtrack. Avantika’s Karen is more empty-headed; Wood’s Gretchen is more insecure. Most of the time it all works out – except, again, for Rice, who plays up Cady’s ingenuity a bit at a lot in the first act, making her transition into a verified Queen Bee harder to buy.

The second act of the story – from both the original film and the Broadway stage version – is sped up and ultimately jumbled up in this adaptation. Fey’s script doesn’t delve enough into Cady’s face-heel turn into a mean girl to make the transition believable. It doesn’t help that Rice never quite sells Cady’s ruthlessness. She seems a bit deer-in-the-headlights, wide-eyed and pushed around by too many other people.

Both the original film and the Broadway musical spend time with the new version of Cady, the popular Plastic who is hardened and becomes everything Regina once was. But Mean girls (2024) not. Everything about Cady’s arc is a little flattened and less, well, mean.

Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount

The rest of Mean girls, however, is enough fun to almost make up for a mediocre lead. The middle of the film – from the iconic sexy Halloween party to Regina’s bus incident – ​​is the most fun, because the musical theatricality and Also pushes Cady to the sidelines in greater musical numbers. There are some nice period updates in the film, which take a lot of the story’s usual gossip and calls to social media platforms like TikTok. (There’s a hilarious running gag with rapper Megan Thee Stallion.) And there are enough nods to the source material to please fans. (Did I laugh at the mention of Glen Coco? Of course I did.)

Mean girls (2024) is unlikely to replace the original 2004 film in anyone’s hearts. The beginning and ending – the most Cady-centric parts – aren’t strong enough to carry the rest of the film, especially when you compare Rice’s take on the character to Lindsay Lohan’s original film performance, or Erika Henningsen’s strong singing in the original Broadway. intake.

But Rapp, Cravalho and the rest of the cast keep the film high and generally make it a fun time. There are enough catchy songs to make up for the dull ones, though the ratio isn’t enough to solidify it as a particularly transcendent musical experience. (There are always one a few duds in a musicalbut there should be more bangers.) Overall the 2024 Mean girls hits all the right notes and continues the legacy of the original film rather than completely retreading it.

Mean girls debuts in theaters on January 12.