Movie Review: Mean Girls

 Movie Number 4 of 2024

The Movie: Mean Girls

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Stars: 4

The latest iteration of Mean Girls, which was a book, that turned into a mega-successful film, which morphed into a musical, and is now a film of the musical. And yeah, as somebody who's not overly fond of musicals, I didn't mind this. 

But I am a Mean Girls tragic - always have been, you go Glenn Coco! and I will not say anything against it and stop trying to make 'fetch' happen. If they didn't bugger with it too badly, it was going to be okay. 

And they didn't stray from the original much at all. It really didn't go far from the original movie at all. Okay Karen, once played by Amanda Seyfried, is now a Southern Asian woman. Janice is an out and proud lesbian. Cady is raised by a single mum. Tiny things. That's okay. 

The original Mean Girls is one of my favourite feel good movies, along with Pitch Perfect. Daft American fodder which is easy to watch, with a decent redemption arc. 

So, what is this about?

In a nutshell, Cady Heron (Australian Angourie Rice) starts high school after years of home schoolikng in Africa, where her parents are research scientists. On entering school she finds a whole new world. She is a hit with the Plastics, an A-list girl clique at her new school. But everything changes when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George (Renee Rapp). Oh, and there are now mobile phones. They weren't in the original. 

And it's a musical. 

If you love the original Mean Girls, you'll love this. 

As somebody who's not overly fond of musicals, the numbers in this were good. Easy to take in, the choreography was good, the songs fun. Renee Rapp's Regina George is great, and her songs really hit, even if she doesn't have Rachael McAdams' star quality. 

I loved that it kept a lot of the catch cry lines. You go Glen Coco...  You don't even go to this school...Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen.... the musical concert, for which they bugger up the dancing... Regina in a neck brace... the murderous school bus. It's all there. 

And the greatest thing about this film? The fact that most of the cast are of a normal size. No super skinnies here. It was really refreshing to see. Some would call it woke, others, just aware. 

This is good for kids 12 and up - and for Mean Girls tragics like me. 

Today's song: