Mean Girls (2024)
Directors: Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr.
Screenwriter: Tina Fey
Starring: Angourie Rice, Renee Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer, Busy Phillips, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows
The core problem with Mean Girls (2024), adapted from the Broadway musical version of the 2004 film, becomes apparent almost immediately. The movie opens with Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) filmed through a phone screen in a garage, performing “Cautionary Tale,” a lively pop number that frames the story as a tale of “corruption and betrayal.” In the stage adaptation, Janis and Damian serve as quasi-narrators; here, they largely replace the original film’s central point of view, which belonged to Cady Heron. That shift unintentionally strips the film of a strong narrative anchor and the distinct voice that made the 2004 original a quotable classic.
The plot follows the familiar beats of the original: Cady Heron, a homeschooled teenager who grew up in Kenya, enrolls at North Shore High and struggles to navigate its social politics. Outcasts Janis and Damian introduce her to various cliques. Regina George (Renee Rapp), the alpha of the Plastics, recruits Cady into the group alongside Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood) and Karen Shetty (Avantika). Janis sees an opportunity to use Cady to infiltrate the Plastics and sabotage Regina as revenge for past betrayals.
Where the original film centered Cady’s perspective and featured a rich voiceover that allowed audiences to empathize with her confusion and moral slip, this version sidelines Cady. Angourie Rice’s performance often reads as detached; her expressions and delivery make Cady feel alienated from the story rather than the character through whom the audience experiences the world. Without Cady’s inner life anchoring the film, her transformation into one of the Plastics lacks believable motivation, and the emotional moments near the end of the film feel unearned.
Many of the issues stem from the source material and how it was adapted. Tina Fey wrote the book for the stage musical and also penned this screenplay, and the adaptation often feels like scenes and dialogue were shuffled or transplanted without fresh context. Large swaths of the original film’s dialogue and sequences remain intact, but the connective tissue—the voice, the perspective, the emotional center—has been diminished. This remake could have used the opportunity to meaningfully update the story for a post-social-media generation by exploring how social platforms shape teenagers’ self-worth and the mechanics of online cruelty. Instead, the attempts to incorporate modern references such as TikTok feel perfunctory, and the movie rarely captures the complexities of contemporary teen life.
Equally disappointing is the loss of the original’s sharper satirical bite. Regina George in the 2004 film is an active, terrifying force; her manipulations and cruelty carry weight. In the musical film, Regina is described as mean but rarely behaves in ways that justify the label with the same intensity. Renee Rapp is a vocally powerful performer, but her presence cannot fully compensate for a script that fails to give Regina consistent, compelling acts of dominance. The film also mishandles sensitive material: while many clearly offensive jokes from the original were removed, the new version often relies on fatphobic humor and avoids substantive engagement with issues like eating disorders or evolving beauty standards.
Janis and Damian are notable bright spots. Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey bring energy and charisma to their roles, and their musical moments are some of the most entertaining parts of the film. Cravalho’s performance of “Revenge Party” is especially infectious, demonstrating that parts of the musical score can shine even when the overall film falters. Yet even Janis’s queerness is treated more as a detail than a developed element of the character, and the film misses opportunities to give depth to her identity and motivations.
Technically, the film suffers from uneven execution. Camera work favors close-ups and mid-shots edited together in ways that obscure spatial relationships, leaving scenes feeling cramped and occasionally disorienting. Blocking can appear stiff, notably in the sequence where Cady meets the Plastics, which undermines the theatricality the film might have embraced. Production design and costuming often feel constrained and flat, suggesting this project may have been intended primarily for streaming rather than a big-screen release. Lighting and color grading contribute to an inconsistent visual tone: much of the film is dominated by cold blues and muted greens that sap scenes of warmth, while occasional musical numbers burst into saturated color that highlights the film’s overall inconsistency.
Music, the element with the greatest potential to distinguish this version, is handled unevenly. Several songs are shortened or removed, which weakens character development and emotional beats that the stage musical relied on. “Meet the Plastics,” originally an introduction to all three members of the group, primarily showcases Regina here while trimming Gretchen and Karen’s moments. Key emotional songs that could have deepened relationships between characters are missing, leaving performers like Christopher Briney—who might have had more to do musically—on the sidelines.
Despite its flaws, the film contains moments of promise: strong vocal performances from Cravalho and Spivey, and occasional lines of sharp humor that recall the original’s satirical edge. But those moments are fleeting. Compared with the 2004 film, which captured an authentic voice and remains culturally resonant, Mean Girls (2024) feels like a diluted echo. It borrows familiar rhythms and iconic beats but struggles to bring a cohesive, contemporary perspective to the material. Ultimately, this adaptation is watchable in parts, and fans of the stage score will find highlights, but as a whole it fails to recapture the specific blend of voice, bite, and empathy that made the original such a lasting cultural touchstone.
Score: 6/24