It has been two decades since the 2004 film ‘Mean Girls’ was released, written by Tina Fey and based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The film follows the story of Cady Heron, played by actress Lindsay Lohan, and her quest to become popular in high school. The film follows various high school issues including friendships among girls that are often competitive, and it has become a cult classic among millennials. Although the film has some redeeming qualities such as its narrative focusing on characters like Cady, every time I’ve attempted to watch it, my attention has always wandered elsewhere. The film has a phenomenal cast whose chemistry is remarkable, with the movie’s key plotline elapsed to uninspired jokes and racist undertones. Fortunately, directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr assembled a fresh cast in this latest installment and are also adapting the hit Broadway musical inspired by the original film.
Having spent her youth being homeschooled in Africa due to her mother’s work, Cady finds herself attending a new school in the United States her first experience in ‘social warfare.’ This version even starts off on a relatively stronger note in addressing reasons for Ms. Instead of advancing the ludicrous ‘Africa’ concept presented in the earlier film, this time writer director Heron goes for such places as Southwest Michigan. At the same time, it stays away from the countless laughable attempts of making Cady’s home country funny.
Cady is not as prepared as she thought she would be for her first day of school until she is fortunate enough to meet Janis ‘Imi’ike (the stunning Auliʻi Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (the funny Jaquel Spivey) ; the art freaks who show her the ropes. The duo narrate most of the time with often song and at the same time speak to the audience in the fourth wall. Such cliques are again depicted in specificity as band geeks who are horny, burnouts and even a gay clique but without racial stereotypes which plagued the previous film’s presentation.
A moment in the film and time freezes when the queen bee of them all, non other than Regina George (the spellbinding Reneé Rapp) walks into a room filled with lunch in her hand and more as leader of the so called “Plastics” Regina is a popular girl. Like everybody else from the word go, Cady is enamored with Regina’s commanding presence. Rapp does not just conquer the screen; she is a force to be reckoned with. The directors employ a combination of wide shots to portray how people part ways as she walks the corridors and the focused shots where the actress’s face is full of mesmerizing beauty.
Completing the image of the Plastics is a touching Bebe Wood, who, although her character was always sidelined, brought the same frail strength to Gretchen wi General award winner, Regina’s constant victimized best friend Gretchen Wieners. In this scene, however, it can be said that she is one of the people that gets to sing one of the film’s best songs, which is about body image and self esteem issues.
People can relate to a lot of them when Vorak is shown as a backstabber wearing a disguise of a best friend. Karen has gosh and we will have to call her Jennifer and say “She is the dumbest girl you will ever meet.” In that case, Karen, whom Seyfried played so well in her movie debut, was not as easy to pull off; so cleverly she depicted Karen’s stupidity with a casual nod to Marilyn Monroe. On the other hand, Avantika tends to exert too much effort, as if intentionally portraying a character who is not the brightest.
The plot intensifies when Regina becomes interested in Cady and invites her to eat lunch with the Plastics. However, Cady has no idea that Regina and Janis share a history: they were once middle school friends. This backstory is given much more depth in this version of the tale, and it makes Janis’ subsequent dastardly act much easier to fathom.
What’s more, Cady has a crush on her calculus classmate Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney, making teenage romances redundant in “The Summer I Turned Pretty”), who is also Regina’s ex boyfriend. Janis persuades Cady to befriend Regina so Cady can win Aaron and Janis can take revenge on Regina. Many times, plans do not succeed and soon Cady is consumed by the thrill of being the center of attention, losing sight of her core values.
Regina and Cady’s rise and fall of popularity can only be compared to a trending tweet topic. Videos of their troublesome behavior are recorded on cell phones which spawn a crack out a thousand reaction videos. One minute Cady is a nobody, and the next minute Cady has a million views and likes. These sequences, though visually attractive and make a lot of sense in context, try too hard to be used whenever there’s a transition in Cady’s character that could have been better conveyed in the dialogues.
The same can be said to the songs which, like most things in the musical genre, serve as a channel for the character to display their emotions. None of the songs are ear worms of any kind. No, the only one that can be distinctly considered catchy is Gretchen Weiner’s “What’s Wrong with Me” and “I’d Rather Be Me,” which is simply Janis’ rock ballad aimed at self respect. Even at their worst, however those songs had some great visuals. Janis and Damian absolutely slay “Revenge Party,” performed in a rainbow tinted hall with cotton candy clouds stitched together to create a demented Gen Z IG look. Likewise, “Someone Gets Hurt,” a sad song sung by Regina would be synonymous with a dim lit glittery similar to the feeling of “Euphoria.”
Though the original film was a great career picture for Lindsay Lohan who was in “the zone,” the character of Cady played by Angourie Rice onto the shakier end of the spectrum becomes more rigid and her irresistibly graceful model influencer metamorphosis is shattered. Although Rice sings nicely, as a performer she unfortunately isn’t up to par with Rapp and Cravalho who’s star power is rather undeniable. Thankfully, since this musical is more of an ensemble, Cady mildly being okay does not ruin the film completely as it would if the story was entirely cast around her.
In a strange way, the film is a vinegary lecture; it is a furious tirade against malevolence depicted as sport and praise for teenagers who are unpretentious. It does look this time around Fey and co. have actually made fetch happen.
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