Mean Girls (2024)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss (Yes I know this is based off a 20-year-old movie lol)

[CJohn]

Tim Meadows and Tina Fey play a couple now which is nice.

[fastlane]

Lindsay Lohan makes a cute cameo in a deja vu moment, my theater audibly gasped and cheered when she showed up lol hope this helps give her career revival some more momentum. also cheered after World Burn's musical moment. very animated crowd laughing along throughout (but thankfully not in an annoying manner) I think it made me enjoy the movie more than I would've otherwise. it was an entertaining experience but not sure how fun I would have if this was an original movie/the first didn't exist if that makes sense. I also didn't love how Cady doesn't get to tell the story/narrate as that's kinda what made the first one so good for me storywise? Regina and Karen were the highlights (with Regina, Janis and Damian being very obvious excellent vocalists) but I don't think I'd pick any of these over the original actors though, if I had to pick one it'd probably be Reneé who gives a different but very strong take as Regina (which must clearly be a very fun role to play because of all the one-liners and stuff)

 

Edited January 12 by fastlane

[filmlover]

This obviously doesn't approach the comedic highs of the original classic, the songs are entirely unmemorable (never saw the stage musical), and it can't help but come off as ultimately pointless given how anyone familiar with or who has seen the OG since its release nearly 20 years ago won't be even the slightest bit surprised by how this remake plays out scene by scene (virtually every single one of the iconic lines from "I'm a mouse, duh!" to "she doesn't even go here!" is present and accounted for). But the musical numbers are well-executed (the shifting aspect ratios during most of the songs was an unusual choice, perhaps to convey they are all fantasy?) and it works better than one would expect from a remake to such a fairly recent movie that was once destined for streaming, while Tina Fey does a solid job updating the story by adding two decades worth of technological/social changes in the world which prevents this version from suffering too much from a sense of redundancy.

 

A highly appealing new cast of young actors also makes this version work, as all fit well with their roles, no easy feat considering what strong impressions proven talents like Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan, etc. did in the previous iteration. Leading the way is the always charming Angourie Rice, perhaps as perfect a choice as any to play Cady in 2024 while also revealing she has a surprisingly strong singing voice. However, the two real standouts are definitely Renee Rapp and Auli'i "Moana" Cravalho: Rapp devours the part of Regina George just as much as Rachel McAdams did, while this version might offer a more fleshed out characterization of Janis that gives Cravalho plenty of moments to shine. The Lindsay Lohan cameo towards the end made me smile.

 

This honestly feels comparable to a number of the live-action Disney remakes to me: it's an inferior and almost completely uncreative retelling for sure, but the original source offers enough charm and good humor that's able to shine through no matter how it's packaged that fans should find this to be a likeable and enjoyable time at the movies, especially when the story's themes are just as relevant and relatable to the teenagers of today as it was to the ones in 2004.

 

B

Edited January 14 by filmlover

[crazymoviekid]

Well, that was a movie...

 

Things of note:

1. Really good performances overall, biggest complaint would be Karen, not bad just too b much of a caricature 

2. Fuck off with the changing aspect ratios, annoying on a 2.35 screen, they weren't even consistent with musical numbers vs. real world

3. Thought some of the camera work was good, really liked the long takes

4. Biggest gripe - you have 15 more minutes, but so much of it is spent on extended musical numbers that get to "the point" much slower, we miss out on actual character building scenes that are so memorable from 2004 and make us love to hate a lot of the original characters too 

5. This version made me believe Aaron likes Cady better than original

6. All the tiktok stuff was so annoying, over the top, and will not age well 

7. A certain bathroom scene was a great addition

Edited January 15 by crazymoviekid