This is the musical remake to the iconic 2004 film Mean Girls. And actually it’s a film adaptation to the Broadway Musical adaptation of the 2004 film.
Cady Heron is a hit with the Plastics, an A-list girl clique at her new school. But everything changes when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
I had to approach this film a little differently than I would most adaptations and remakes. I didn’t go in thinking in what ways could this be better or as good as the original. Rather I went in thinking how can this respect and pay tribute to the original. I think because of my approach I enjoyed it more than if I was wanting it to be better than the original.
The moments where this film shined was actually when it wasn’t trying to recreate iconic moments and dialogue and when it did its own thing it really worked. When they tried to recreate scenes and sequences, that’s what hurt it. The films got quite a few laughs but also there were several jokes that missed.
Most of the the laughs came from Jaquel Spivey as Damien. He actually got some belly laughs out of me. Renee Rapp as Regina was flawless and her songs felt like a completely different movie due to the fact that no one could measure up to her vocals and or overall vibe.
Some of the acting and vocals were pretty spotty, I didn’t care for Angourie Rice as Cady. Her singing voice or her acting except for when she was being “plastic.” Jenna Fischer, Christopher Briney, and Busy Phillips, I also found pretty underwhelming, acting wise.
All in all it was fun, I wish the songs hit more than they did. The the things that changed it up made the movie as good as it was.
My Critic Score: 6.5/10
Enjoyment Score: 7/10