Mean Girls Movie Review

Poppy Stewart

Feb 21, 2024

2 min read

Updated: Nov 4, 2024

We all know the iconic film that took cinemas by storm in April of 2004.

The one that had us wearing pink on Wednesdays, wondering “is butter a

carb?”, questioning the rules of feminism and having October 3rd ingrained into

our memories. Still don’t know the absolutely fetch movie I’m talking about?

Mean Girls.

Raking in approximately 86 million dollars (in theaters alone), this

unforgettable film starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams reached

number 26 in the box office. However, its era of fame did not end there as it

remains a prominent film today. Prominent enough, in fact, that not one, but

two remakes have been made! Tina Fey’s musical Mean Girls debuted on

Broadway in 2018 followed this year (the 20 year anniversary of the original

film) by a musical edition of the film.

Starring Angourie Rice and Reneé Rapp, the new Mean Girls has raked

in only 3 million less than the original film. But was the film worth that much

money and hype?

People were already skeptical, making TikToks comparing the vocals of Rice (playing Cady Heron) to those of Erika Henningsen (who played Cady in the musical on Broadway). Where Henningsen brought powerful vocals and acting that accompanied the passionate teenage girl she was playing, Rice seemed to lack. Her singing is described as “sedated”, “sounding like a nervous audition” and she is compared to AI singers.

Although many of her co-stars brought excellent performances to the film, such as Rapp’s stunning contribution, having the star bring such low energy brought the rest of the movie down.

This was not the only issue held with the performance, however. People also have commented on how this movie did not add much to the original film. The scenes were the same, adding little new interpretation, and there was nothing that really made it stand out in its newness compared to the original film and cast, making viewers wonder why the remake was ever made.

Although the movie pales in comparison to the other versions and is certainly not a must see, it still creates an entertaining and fun trip to the theaters and still holds the nostalgia of the 2000s.