Mean Girls 2024 Review

Mean Girls (2024) is presented as “A New Twist From Tina Fey,” and that it is. Part remake of the 2004 classic, part movie version of the 2017 Broadway musical Mean Girls is a fun update on the classic teen comedy.

The original Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters, was an adaptation of the 2002 Rosalind Wiseman novel Queen Bees and Wannabes, making the entire franchise very meta.

I consider the original Mean Girls to be a teen classic—a masterclass of the genre. We made sure our daughter watched it before she began high school. I’ve not seen the musical yet, but I listened to the soundtrack before seeing the new movie. I have to say I’m pretty impressed.

Mean Girls does an interesting job of remaking the original movie, incorporating the music from the musical, and updating the story for modern times without losing much of the magic that made the original movie so good. It’s actually a lot to accomplish, but directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. do a great job of striking a good balance.

The new cast had big, pink high heels to fill here, and everyone does a great job of establishing themselves I the roles while paying homage to the original cast. Renee Rapp and Angourie Rice are particularly good in the lead roles of Regina and Cady, respectively. Unlike their predecessors, they are called upon to act, sing, and do a great job with both.

This movie is more of a remake of the original movie with the songs from the musical baked in instead of a direct movie version of the musical. I think the choice works very well, but fans of the musical may be disappointed by some of the choices to shorten or cut songs entirely from the movie. If you’re unfamiliar, the plot is that Cady Herron has grown up in Africa and is homeschooled by her mom. As Cady turns high school age, her mom accepts a job at a University in the United States, where Cady will attend school for the first time. She’s excited at the prospect but soon finds that high school is just as dangerous and unpredictable as the wilds of Africa.

She is quickly accepted by Janis and Damien, but is just as quickly ensnared in the clique known as The Plastics, ruled over by Regina George (Rapp). From here, Cady lives a double life, befriending and infiltrating the Plastics to enact revenge for the horrors they have enacted on the women of the junior class. Along the way Cady finds herself becoming more and more “plastic” while falling for Regina’s ex Arron Samuels (Christopher Briney) and suddenly failing math a subject she’s actually quite good at.

The structure of the movie follows the original very closely, with the big musical numbers expertly incorporated right into the story. The plot moves along at a brisk pace, with the story being propelled by both the narrative and musical numbers. Affordances are made here for the modern setting of the movie. Cell phones, social media, and updated slang are incorporated here while returning almost everything from the original. Fetch, October 3rd, and the Spring Fling are all here and accounted for. There are a few updated jokes, a couple of clever references to the original movie and one BIG cameo that sent our theater crowd into an uproar.

One important note is the spectacular performance of Auliʻi Cravalho as Janis 'Imi'ike. She definitely steals the show! Her voice is phenomenal, and while all of the songs are good and all of the performances are top-notch, hers is outstanding!

Mean Girls fans, I think your cherished classic is in good hands. As Gretchen would say, “It’s so fetch!”