‘Mean Girls’ Is a Worthy Musical Successor to the Original

As Screen Speck’s resident theatre person, there’s no doubt that I immediately jumped at the chance to review 2024’s Mean Girls – the musical adaptation of the 2004 film that was not promoted as a musical because “people hate musicals.” Do you know what people who hate musicals probably also really hate? Walking into a movie thinking it’s a regular movie, only for it to be a musical. But I digress.

A little backstory first, though, before I review the film. I saw Mean Girls on Broadway twice (if you’re wondering, yes, I did see Renee Rapp as Regina George, aka her Broadway debut as a freshly minted Jimmy Award Winner), and I absolutely loved it. Like, so much so that my friends were genuinely surprised that I unironically loved it so much that I saw it twice (had I been NYC adjacent like I am now, I would’ve seen a handful of more times before it became one of Broadway’s first casualties during the start of the pandemic.) The show wasn’t anything really special, but the music was catchy, the book was hilarious, and it was just a fun time.

Which brings me to the film adaptation. When I saw the song list that was posted before the film was released and before any advanced screening had taken place, my initial thought was, “Oh my God, it’s going to be bad.“

I’m happy to report that it was the complete opposite. As far as adaptations go, this one is great! It stays true to the source materials while making the necessary changes to cut back on time, knowing that most folks don’t want to sit through a two-and-a-half-hour movie about anything. I was sad to see some songs in particular get the chopping block (“Where Do You Belong?” and the full version of “Meet The Plastics“), but the story moves perfectly fine without them.

As opposed to following the musical’s book, the script is an update of the original film’s script – but enough of it is still the same that it’s an homage to its predecessor. It’s a little more tame than the original – no jokes about how having sex means you’ll get pregnant and die or skirts being the fugliest things ever seen, but that’s okay.

The updates to the score make the music more pop-y than it was on stage, and it works in its favor, especially for the cast members who do the majority of the singing throughout the film, Renee Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, and Jaquel Spivey. These three are the ones who carry the film forward in its entirety, and what a joy they are to watch.

Cravalho and Spivey are dynamic as Janice and Damien. They’re hilarious and hold some of the film’s best moments – like when she hops onto the back of the scooter Damien borrowed from his grandmother, and he pats her hand in comfort after an argument with Cady (Angourie Rice). As Regina, Rapp brings a comedic side to the character that wasn’t there in the original film or the stage adaptation, and of course, her vocals were made for the pop changes to the score. I’d also be remiss not to mention Bebe Wood as (Latina!) Gretchen Weiners and Avantika as Karen, both of whom are so well cast in their roles. Avantika, in particular, brings such a doe-eyed ditzyiness to her character that I’m sure made Amanda Seyfried proud. And shout out to Tina Fey, who reprised her role of Ms.Norbury, because, duh, for making fun of herself in her little “singing” moment.

The one downside of the film is the casting of Angourie Rice as Cady Heron. She lacks the naivety needed for the role and, unfortunately, the most crucial part of being cast as the lead in a musical – the voice. I’m unsure if they were tight on time in casting this role, but they did try to work with her lack of vocal ability. The score is reworked to work with what she’s capable of – keys are changed for songs so that she doesn’t have to sing as high, new songs were written for the character to replace more vocally challenging songs, songs that were meant as solo songs are restructured so that she doesn’t have to sing most of the song – or at all (Apex Predator and I See Stars are prime examples of this). It works, allowing for there to be some singing from Rice that doesn’t completely let her flounder.

Aside from that misstep in casting, the film is excellent overall. Mean Girls is not perfect – no adaptation is, but it is one of the best stage-to-screen adaptations in the last decade. Of course, let’s not forget the cameos from cast members of the original film and the original cast of the musical.

Rating: 8/10