Mean Girls (filmed in 2004) is a classic film, well-known and beloved, a staple of our time. With its timeless themes of bullying, teenage girlhood, and fitting in, it is still frequently referenced  20 years later.  An iconic pop culture film,  the idea of a remake no doubt leads to disapproval and harsh criticism, leaving people questioning why a film that still holds such influence would need to be modernized. However, with this remake in particular, it is not only an adaptation of the original film, but the Broadway musical as well, which makes it a new experience for movie-goers who are not familiar with stage performance. 

The new Mean Girls includes the same characters but with a new cast of mostly fresh faces. Cady Heron, the main character who is relocated from being homeschooled in Kenya to the unfamiliar territory of American high school, is played by Angourie Rice who brings an extra endearing quality to her character. Reneé Rapp, who also played Regina George in the Broadway production, is the queen bee of the Plastics and uses her outstanding vocal ability to illustrate her character’s power over the school and her two minions: the unintelligent but loveable Karen (played by Avantika) and the gossipy yet secretly insecure Gretchen (played by Bebe Wood). Cady befriends two outcasted artsy kids, Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damien (Jaquel Spivey) who convince her to infiltrate the Plastics to get revenge on Regina. Chaos results as Cady finds herself sucked into the cruelty and shallowness that makes up the world of these high school cliques. This plot remains largely the same in the movie but with a modern twist and added musical numbers that differentiate it from the original. 

The music, however, didn’t contain any particular lyrical strength, with most of the numbers being rather forgettable in terms of lyrics and production. The performers on the other hand were what kept the musical aspect from being fully disappointing, in particular, the impressive vocals of Rapp and Cravalho. Terra Linda Senior Kai McCarthy agrees that the actress Regina George made a large impact. “I’d say Reneé Rapp was really good. She was phenomenal. She ate. She carried.” 

It was interesting to see how they went about modernizing the 20-year-old film, incorporating social media by having several scenes in which they showed snippets of TikTok videos of people reacting to events that took place in the film. When it came to updating the fashion, the outfits throughout mainly looked like they were bought off Shein, but I suppose fast fashion is as modern as it gets. Nevertheless, several outfits remained the same or incredibly similar, such as the one for the Christmas dance number and some of the Halloween costumes, which was a satisfying way to give a nod to the original. 

McCarthy also believes that the modernization did not work in the movie’s favor, “They were trying to make it like ‘hip for the teens’ and kind of failing,” they said before adding on a more positive note, “But it was funny to laugh at, at points. It’s almost like something so bad that in a way you can make fun of it and that makes it good.”

The quotes and references that made the first one very clearly a product of the 2000s were removed (for example, the slurs, stereotypes, and rather problematic language) and it was more inclusive and diverse, which was nice to see. The queer storylines were much more apparent and fully fleshed out as opposed to simply being written off or used as the punchlines of jokes. This is shown specifically with the character of Janis who, in this version, narrates the story with Damian and as a result, receives a stronger character arc. 

While it was an entertaining experience, great for a laugh with friends, it does fall short when compared to a film as iconic as the original. It is questionable whether or not this remake was truly necessary, considering the influence the 2004 version still holds for teens both now and when it was released, but the charming cast and good balance between the material of the original movie, the Broadway show, as well as some (albeit sparse) new content, made it interesting enough to stick around for the one hundred and twelve minutes.