Mean Girls

Mean Girls is finally released in theaters and I have some thoughts. The first of them being that the internet's top complaint is that they didn’t know that it was a musical. I am going to say this is the nicest way possible, if you didn’t know that this movie was a musical you are stupid. There was a teaser trailer and 2 longer trailers. In the teaser Renee Rapp SINGS “I am Regina George”. In both longer trailers there are AT LEAST 4 scenes of dancing. On the poster there is a treble clef in the A of Mean Girls and there is a music note ring on Regina’s finger. The only way you walked into the movie not knowing it was a musical was if you are completely brain dead.

I am someone who, from the bottom of my heart, hates the Broadway musical. All of the music sounds like it was written by and for 12 year olds and it is nothing more than a watered down Heathers.

However the casting for the movie is so good that I didn’t really care. The songs were still bad but they were sung and staged so well that I didn’t even really notice. Renee Rapp is a goddess and definitely the highlight of this movie. World Burn is lyrically terrible but Renee’s vocal was incredible. I could listen to her sing the phone book. She is a reminder that all movie musicals should be casted from the stage. Auli’i Cravalho was a perfect Janice, I have loved her since she was Moana and Rise and I can’t think of a better casting choice. Busy Phillips was a fun addition and honestly perfect for Regina’s mom, she was only in a few scenes but she definitely stole every scene that she is in.

This was a perfect balance of the stage musical and the original movie. There were definitely enough songs that it felt like a good musical but so much of the original movie was intact that the nostalgia factor was definitely there. I loved the cameo appearance by Lindsey Lohan, it seriously filled me with so much joy to see her on screen again.

The group numbers were perfectly staged. It really felt like a big wonderful stage musical. Sexy was probably the best group number but all the dancing and movement was very well done. I love the way the ensemble sounded on all of the group numbers.

The humor and charm definitely is consistent with the original film. It was hilarious and fun and now my favorite version of the movie. I LOVE the original cast but I am in love with Renee Rapp….

I will say that the product placement was a bit much and way too obvious. Also if you’ve got that many sponsorships why do all the costumes (besides Regina’s Halloween outfit) look like they were bought from Goodwill? Like the costume designer and director didn’t even try. These are supposed to be the rich girls of the school and all of the clothes look so cheap. And I am sorry but no popular girl in any school in any era is using E.L.F products. That is the cheapest of makeup and even us poor people aren’t buying that much E.L.F.

Overall it was a great start to the films of 2024 and I give it a 9/10. Sorry but we are taking a point off because the music is terrible. Also please consider this my formal petition to get a movie musical version of Heathers made as it is the same story with far better music. The cast was great as was the script and that is why it gets rated so high.