Mean Girls-The MUSICAL Movie
For 30 Pausers Mean Girls was and still is most likely 1 of your fav cult classics. Tina Fey shoved one liners down our throats back in 2004 & we ate'em up & regurgitate them still 20 years later.
I don’t know about you, but I was here for Mean Girls since day 1. When the film first came out, it was 2004, I was 17, and the closest thing to a North Shore High besides my own real life High School experience (I graduated with 89 students in my class, so it was FAR from North Shore) was me watching MTV’s Diary of Lindsay Lohan. Peep the TikTok linked to refresh your memory and take A trip down Nostalgia Lane
So, when walking into the theaters last night (on Wednesday, because-duh)! I was excited, ready, and open minded. I had a hunch that most patrons weren’t expecting to watch a Screenplay adaptation of the Broadway Musical, not a reboot of the original film. I have a love/hate relationship with Remakes and Reboots, but this is what modern day Cinema is. They write a Screenplay, make the film, adapt it to the Stage, Broadway has their run and fun, and then film producers take that Musical Stage adaptation, make another movie out of it, and sometimes we love it, sometimes we hate it, and sometimes we love to hate it! But you know what? In this case, it works-and I liked it. More than thee Orig!? No, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves here, but I must say, Brava Queen Tina Fey! She wrote this screenplay 20+ years ago & is still making it relevant whilst laughing all the way to the bank. #pussypower
P.S. If you haven’t read Tina’s book Bossy Pants, it’s a smart & laugh-out-loud book full of autobiographical essays. Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Overall, I thought this was well done and I was personally thrilled to see Tina and Tim Meadows in their original roles to keep us 30 Pausers happy. Renee Rapp was a standout as Regina George, that girl is dripping with talent, and plays her with an abundant amount of cuntiness (fun fact she played Regina in the Broadway Cast as well). This movie Musical will never be better than the OG-because the OG is just so iconic, but I didn’t get that they were trying to be. The script stayed true to its original format of relevant slang and political climate commentary and bits. The references to the original film/script were intelligently done. Busy Phillips slayed as Regina’s Mom and the actress who played Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) was just ok. Nothing memorable stood out with me about her or her performance. She just didn’t have the “it” and so I don’t know if that’s my own 30 Pause™️ bias because this was LiLo’s breakthrough role, but I just wasn’t 100% sold. I also really enjoyed the choreography by Kyle Hanagami. He told the story in a way that still surprised you and it didn’t come off cheesy or like a try hard. Casting was brilliantly done especially with Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood) & Karen Shetty (Avantika Vandanapu). They put their own modern-day spins into the principal characters, and I was here for it.
(Spoiler Alert) Lindsay Lohan’s cameo at the end was brilliant. She looks phenomenal, and it really made me miss your raspy voice and her natural likeability onscreen. If your walking into the theaters expecting it to top the original or be just as iconic-don’t, but I appreciated it for what it is. You can’t deny the talent that exuded on and off screen so for me this film is so Fetch!
Let me know what you thought of it, and I hope you run to the theaters with your girlies and enjoy it just as much as I did.
Xo,
Heather