The original Mean Girls is hardly a movie I have word-for-word lodged in my brain. I enjoyed it certainly, especially on my rewatch last year. It’s also one of those movies where I kneejerk object to a remake… yeah… it’s “only” been 20 years. The jury is out if that’s too soon. Maybe if this was the musical version of Clueless it’d feel less weird.

Anyhow, Mean Girls 2024 is pretty much the exact same movie it was before (including the return of Tina Fey and Tim Meadows) only now it has musical interruptions… I mean numbers.

Yeah, this is one of those musicals where I sigh when someone breaks out into song because it’s getting in the way of the story. Wouldn’t be a problem if the songs were immediately catchier or the productions more elaborate or interesting. And perhaps these are the greatest songs ever and it’ll just take time for them to worm their way into my ears. But I didn’t get annoyed during Hamilton or The Color Purple… so…

The replacement crew of young actresses (and actors) were fine. I like what Angourie Rice has done in the past but her hair and clothes kept making me think about Lindsay Lohan. I didn’t recognize Auli’i Cravalho immediately… she was Moana and it’s nice for her to get more live action work.

But these actors are telling the same jokes, telling the same story… only now maybe with more social media than before. There’s not a lot new to it (besides the music). The old film doesn’t feel societally old enough to me for the new one to speak to a new generation. Maybe that’s just my age not seeing a huge difference between 2004 and 2024…. Now excuse me while I go yell at a cloud.

Yeah, Mean Girls is still a good movie… but was better when it wasn’t all-singing, all-dancing. Theater kids might enjoy it more… people who get into the swing easier than me. Maybe that’s you?

Score: 83