Hi Readers,
Last week I saw the reboot/revival of the cultural icon and successful musical now coming to the West End: Mean Girls. Many people online did not seem aware that the film was a musical in spite of the existence of the musical, the casting of Reneé Rapp (who starred as Regina George in the Broadway version) and the trailer.
The 2004 film starring the best of 2000s Hollywood – Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Tina Fey, Lizzy Caplan, Amy Poehler and Lacey Chabert (more of a 90s icon) – has generated endless chatter, memes, Halloween outfits, recreations and TikToks. This new version has updated some of the politically incorrect or offensive language – i.e Regina is now a fugly cow and Cady is not approached about muffins in the cafeteria.
The Broadway version adapted by Tina Fey only had a short life on stage due to the Covid 19 pandemic so its great to see it immortalised on the screen with its original star Reneé Rapp. Since her turn as Regina, Reneé has gone on to star in the popular HBO series, The Sex Lives of College Girls and released music – Tummy Hurts, Snow Angels and become a bi icon.
Mean Girls (2024)
The film starts with an upbeat opening number by Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damien (Jacquel Spivey) the ones who guide Cady through North Shore High School and its teenage population. It only seems right that they guide the audience through the film. Some updates to their characters include changing their ethnicity and giving them more up to date interests. For example, Janis wears more popular but still hippy clothes, loves blue eye-shadow and her art involves string and sewing.
Cady (Angourie Rice) moves from Kenya with her mother (Jenna Fischer) to the Chicago area in the US and goes from a quiet home-schooled life to figuring out the cliques and social norms of the American high school. The character of Cady’s father has been erased along with the story of her first crush at four years old. What has stayed is Cady’s iconic blue checked shirt that she wears on the first day.
When Cady meets the Plastics they look more high school age than in the original and have a more up to date style. Regina (Reneé Rapp) is wearing a full black leather number with Gretchen (Bebé Woods) and Karen (Avantika) wearing preppy/colourful outfits.
After Cady learns her new calculus class crush, Aaron Samuels (Christoper Briney) is Regina’s ex-boyfriend and therefore strictly off-limits, she agrees to help Janis and Damien bring Regina down a peg or two.
Karen’s solo song ‘Sexy’ tells the audience the boundaries of Halloween costumes and that as long as your outfit is sexy than anything goes. Cady unfortunately does not get this memo and turns up as a Vampire Bride. Seeing Aaron with Cady alerts Regina to the potential threat that Cady poses she and quickly marks her territory by kissing Aaron.
Much like in the original film, Janis, Damien and Cady devise a plan to take away everything from Regina: her perfect skin, hot body, loyal sidekicks and reignited relationship with Aaron.
While Cady only hangs out with Janis and Damien in secret she is gradually turning more Plastic including writing about her teacher, Mrs Norbury (Tina Fey) in the Burn Book and pretending to be dumb so Aaron will tutor her.
Much of the film follows the original including the entire junior class gathering in the gym for a female bonding experience, Cady’s enrolment in the Mathletes and the famous Spring Fling scene with the tiara.
I think that this revival of the film based on the musical is a fresh take on the iconic tale keeping in many of the iconic lines – ‘That’s so fetch’; ‘It’s October 3rd’; ‘the limit does not exist’; ‘You can’t sit with us’ and ‘On Wednesdays we wear pink’. There were some important updates to incorporate the changes in culture and what is acceptable to say especially among teenagers.
I think that the original songs gave a great insight into the character’s thoughts especially Regina and Janis. Making Janis and Damien the narrator characters who introduce the show was clever as they are the ones that introduce Cady and the audience to the cliques in the canteen and the Plastics.
My favourite song from the soundtrack is Apex Predator as it has a good beat and really shows the power and influence that Regina has over the student population.
I’m glad that the musical made it to the big screens as it was cut short on Broadway due to pandemic and it is now coming to the West End.
The cast was well chosen and they all brought new aspects to the roles. I like that Reneé Rapp was not the skinniest girl so showing that all body types can be considered desirable. Rather than focusing on their appearances, it appeared that the Plastics popularity comes from power and knowing things about everyone as demonstrated with the Burn Book.
Overall, I thought the film was fun and for everyone that grew up with the original 2004 version, it was a blast to the past. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoy musicals or the original. I give it 5/5.
Happy Watching,
Robyn
