- We live in an age of reboots and sequels. For every good reboot, sequel, or other adaptation of an intellectual property (IP), it seems like there are three that are just cash grabs.
That is not the case here.
“Mean Girls,” Tina Fey’s musical reworking of her 2017 stage adaptation of the 2004 teen classic, brings the dazzling spectacle of the Broadway theatrical version to the big screen without losing any of its charm.
Like previous adaptations, Paramount Pictures’ “Mean Girls,” which was released in theaters on Jan. 12, follows Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) as she moves from Africa to North Shore High School in America. There, Cady must navigate changing friendships and relationships, all observed with the incisive wit of the digital age.
The original “Mean Girls” is great, but there’s only so much spectacle that a non-musical film can have. This version brings the multicolored displays and African savannah animal imagery of the show to the screen in all of its glory.
That’s not the only thing that is kept in this adaptation, though. The script is just as witty as the stage version’s book, and some lines are even kept as is. My favorite line is when Regina George (played by Reneé Rapp) asks if she can do Karen’s (Avantika) eyelashes, and Karen’s response is, “Can I still have two?”
Some things are changed from the stage version. The most notable of these changes is that Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) is a lesbian in this version. Her conflict with Regina is reframed to be about Regina not supporting her. The song “It Roars” from the stage version is also replaced with a new song, “What Ifs.”
“Mean Girls” is very well-cast. All of the leads thoroughly impressed me with both their acting and vocals. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Cravalho in particular has so much natural charisma and a great voice to match it, elevating songs like “A Cautionary Tale.”
In contrast to Cravalho, who mostly sings in the lower part of her range, Rice hangs out in the higher registers for Cady’s songs, which works thematically in “What Ifs” when she is singing about how “the limit does not exist.”
Rapp, who reprises her role of Regina from the stage version, also has powerhouse vocals, and just goes to town on songs like “Someone Gets Hurt” and, my favorite from the stage production, “World Burn.”
Another favorite song of mine from the show was Gretchen’s (Bebe Wood) tender number, “What’s Wrong With Me?” It’s an important moment for the show and it similarly stops the show here.
In the stage version, Karen had all the best lines and this is also the case here. I was laughing the whole time, but she had several laugh-out-loud lines. Tim Meadows and Fey, reprise their roles of Principal Duvall and Ms. Norbury from previous adaptations and deliver laughs with their portrayals.
It can be easy to be cynical in today’s endless landscape of recycled IP, but “Mean Girls” is a case for continued experimentation. Songs are things that people want to revisit again and again, and I can tell that this revisit was made with love.
