‘Mean Girls’ Movie Review: Magnetic Reneé Rapp Leads Talented Ensemble In Fun Musical Version
Photo from IMDb
From Jeremy Kibler
Don’t call it a basic-bitch remake! 2024’s Mean Girls is a big-screen version of the 2017 stage musical, itself based on 2004’s justifiably adored Mark Waters-directed, Tina Fey-scripted comedy, itself based on Rosalind Wiseman’s book “Queen Bees and Wannabes.” (There’s even a musical note in the title card, just so we’re clear that people sing and dance.) The Lindsay Lohan-Rachel McAdams vehicle is so sharp and has made such a cultural imprint, but like all movies, it’s not above getting a welcome update for another generation. This “other” Mean Girls is fun enough, energetic enough, and gosh darn it, you can like both!
Angourie Rice makes for an adorable and intelligent Cady Heron, a formerly home-schooled math whiz whose zoologist mother (a wonderfully cast Jenna Fischer) has moved them from the jungle of Kenya to the suburbs of Chicago. North Shore High School has its own food chain, as introduced by her two new friends, outspoken artist Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and “too gay to function” Damian (Jaquel Spivey). Of course, Cady gets adopted by the Plastics, led by fearsome queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp), and crushes hard on Regina’s recent ex, the dreamy Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney). You know the rest, except this time, TikTok and musical numbers!
The just-go-for-it energy of directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.’s vision and their entire ensemble bursts through every frame. Once again, Tina Fey writes the script, which generally retains all of the narrative beats (the Plastics’ Winter Talent Show performance goes down a little differently) and many (but not all) of the signature lines from her original script. Above all, the film thematically underlines how young women need to support one another instead of stab each other in the back or be cruel in a “Burn Book.”
The 2004 film may have been perfectly cast, but this Mean Girls also excels in the casting and performances. If anyone could fill Rachel McAdams’ pink heels as Regina George, her name is Reneé Rapp, and she is a dazzling superstar with powerhouse vocals. Having played the character on Broadway, Rapp is fully comfortable on screen and relishing the deliciously nasty part; she’s so fierce, self-assured, and full of edge and attitude that you don’t even want to blink when Rapp is on-screen. As Regina’s posse of Plastics, Bebe Wood solidly reimagines Gretchen Wieners’ fragile ego underneath a perfect-striving surface, along with a more defined arc; and Avantika is a hoot, making sweet airhead Karen her own and an audience favorite all over again. Much like Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Franzese were, Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey are total scene-stealers. Cravalho (Moana, herself!) gets to make the acerbic Janis unambiguously queer, and the performer leads two of the film’s most alive numbers, the vibrantly colored, confetti-filled “Revenge Party” and self-love anthem “I’d Rather Be Me.”
Whether it’s through the tweak of a quotable line, an actor’s unexpected delivery, or their innate comic timing, everyone is putting their own specific stamp on characters we’ve already met. That includes Busy Philipps, on-the-money face casting opposite Rapp as Regina’s cool mom without trying to outdo Amy Poehler. As if they didn’t recognize these same-named characters from twenty years ago navigating social cliques, Fey’s Ms. Norbury and Tim Meadows’ now-bearded Principal Duvall return, and they do get some fresh additional lines thrown in without phoning it in. Jon Hamm, as the coach teaching sex ed, and Ashley Park (who played Gretchen on Broadway), as the French teacher, mainly make cameos but have their amusing moments.
Not every song by composer Jeff Richmond (Fey’s husband) and lyricist Nell Benjamin is going to have staying power on one viewing, but it’s clear everyone is having a great time, and that’s infectious. Kyle Hanagami’s choreography is lively and always fun to watch. The staging of “Someone Gets Hurt,” an angel-dressed Regina’s ballad where the entire Halloween party stops, is especially imaginative and almost hypnotic. The camerawork by cinematographer Bill Kirstein is very dynamic, sometimes dizzying when shot in single takes, and the flourishes with lighting and aspect ratios also aid in opening up the musical numbers with a big, Broadway-level feel.
Comparisons are hard to avoid, but this Mean Girls is pretty fetch all on its own. The “groolest” part is that both movies can sit together.
Rating: 3.5/5
Mean Girls hits theaters on January 12, 2024.
