Pivotal characters Regina George and Karen Shetty pictured in the 2024 remake of the film. (Courtesy of Twitter)

“Mean Girls” is arguably a modern classic. Most American teens growing up in the 2000s can attest that they’ve either watched it, heard of it or could place the references. With iconic lines like “On Wednesdays we wear pink” or “It’s October 3rd,” the references for the 2004 original are everywhere. However, opinions on the new musical movie seem mixed. Even before its release, social media showed us two clear sides: people who thought the creators were going to ruin the original movie’s legacy and those who were excited for the new film thanks to the 2018 Broadway hit. I fell into that latter category, but can anyone really blame the skeptics? A lot of modern remakes tend to be a huge letdown. Fortunately, thanks to my love for Reneé Rapp and Auliʻi Cravalho, I simply had to watch it. I can now share my (spoiler-free) thoughts and recommend you watch it too. 

The original 2004 movie followed Cady Heron as she joined a new school and was shoved into the world of American high school drama. Focusing on the relationships between teenage girls specifically, the movie showed a side of high school people don’t like to discuss, but most can agree is real. The cliches of popularity and gossip are portrayed through a popular group of mean girls dubbed “The Plastics” and two friends who convince Cady to step into their world so Janis Ian can get her revenge on Regina George. While there was a lot of bullying amongst the women in the movie, the ending revealed a lot about how poorly women sometimes treat one another. It acted out how society breeds this competition and how being mean isn’t cool, but instead just genuinely harmful. The musical did a good job of reflecting this message. There were even moments where implicit insecurities from the 2004 movie were made more explicit in the 2024 version, highlighting them better than before. Giving Gretchen Wieners her own song made the character more real, and it fits well with the direction of her character. I will say, though, that they made Karen Shetty too stupid. It was exaggerated a little too much; she seemed out of it a lot of the time. No hate to curing sex cancer, but there were times she was unrealistically dazed. 

I heard this movie was just a film version of the Broadway show, and so I assumed there would be music in it, but many people were upset at the advertising for not making that known. For anyone still questioning, yes, it is a musical. I’m a huge fan of musicals, so I was happy about it. For the most part, the songs were pretty good and very catchy, exactly the kind of vibe teenage comedies are expected to have, but some were close to cringe-worthy in cheesiness. The singing also wasn’t what it could be, so I must unfortunately join the train of people saying Angourie Rice’s voice wasn’t strong enough for Cady’s songs. It was very clear which actors had experience in music and which did not. I will give a special shoutout to “World Burn” and “I’d Rather Be Me,” because those were probably my favorite songs and also had amazing vocals. That said, I’m hoping for some iconic references to come out of this movie. The line “This is modern feminism talking” has been playing in my mind on repeat for days.

The movie was really fun and enjoyable. The casting was good, and I especially loved that the same two teachers were playing the roles they had in the 2004 version. It was really funny, and some of the jokes were Gen Z-based without being cringey or trying too hard. The guys on the math team were especially hilarious, which made their minor roles easily memorable. I literally laughed out loud multiple times, and it seemed like everyone in the theater was entertained. I’d recommend watching it for a fun movie night, and especially a girls’ night in!