I attended an advanced screening for my review. All opinions are my own.
From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic, MEAN GIRLS. New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called “The Plastics,” ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
I love the original Mean Girls film and I have seen the Mean Girls musical as well. I enjoy both. I have been excited to see the new Mean Girls movie. I did like the new Mean Girls movie, but I wish I would have loved it.
This movie is the musical version of Mean Girls. I feel like that is something that has not been shown well in the trailers for the film. The main thing I appreciated about the movie is that the members of the cast can actually sing, and they do a fantastic job at it.
For me, the 2 main standouts were Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey as Janice and Damian. They are the narrators and the heart of the movie. Some of the film’s best musical numbers include these two.
I also thought that Renee Rapp was fabulous as Regina George. I appreciate that she brought out a human side of Regina and did not make the character just one dimensional.
I loved that Tina Fey and Tom Meadows reprised their roles from the first film. There are a few other fun cameos in the film.
As for the story, it is a remake of the original movie with musical numbers. There are a few updates to the story to include the aspect of social media but there is not a lot of new material.
Mean Girls is rated PG-13 “for sexual material, strong language, and teen drinking.” Content wise, the movie deserves its PG-13 rating. I would say that this movie is appropriate for older teenagers.
I think this new Mean Girls movie will be a fun way to introduce Mean Girls to a new generation but then I would show them the original film. Overall, I enjoyed Mean Girls, just not as much as the original.
Mean Girls is now playing in theaters.
For more information about the film, you can visit the film’s official website, Facebook, X, and Instagram.
