Mean Girls movie poster from IMDb used under Fair Use.

On January 12, 2024, the movie Mean Girls hit cinemas all over the world. The 2024 version of the 2004 Mean Girls movie is not only a remake but also an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical.

The movie was filled with familiar actors and actresses such as Renee Rapp, Christopher Briney, and even some of the 2004 cast made an appearance in the new movie such as Tina Fey who played the math teacher in both movies, Tim Meadows who played the principle, and even Lindsay Lohan herself made a comeback to the movie where she no longer played a homeschooled girl turned popular but as the host of math competition.

The movie received a 6.3/10 from IMDb, 70% from Rotten Tomatoes, and 58% from Metacritic compared to the 2004 movie that received a 7.1/10 from IMDb, 66% from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7/10 from IGN.

After seeing many of the trailers and advertisements of the new movie I decided to give the movie a review myself. January 14, 2024, I decided to travel to my local cinema and purchase a ticket for the movie Mean Girls. When picking my seat I was shocked by how many seats were left open. I was surprised by the amount of seats not taken since there was so much talk around the movie but take into consideration it could have been that I went 2 days after the release of the movie late on a Sunday night which was the last showing that day.

While walking into the theater and taking my seat I watched as a few more of the seats filled up but the theater was not even ¼ full. As the movie started I was excited to see how this movie would compare to the original movie. To say the least, my excitement was brought down once 15 minutes into the movie.

The first few soundtracks of the musical felt long and overdrawn. My opinion quickly changed once Renee Rapp came on the screen. Since Renee Rapp was already in a Broadway production of Mean Girls in 2019-2020 and was Regina George in both she had more of an experience in the role which was used to her advantage. 

Rapp was not the only actress/actor with a good performance. Avantika Vandanapu was another actress who had a great performance. Even though Vandanapu is only 18 years old, she seemed as though she had been performing for decades. She gave a very entertaining performance of the song “Sexy.” I must say that was one of the only songs I enjoyed the whole time.

Other songs like “Meet the Plastics,” “World Burn,” and “Someone Gets Hurt” were enjoyable. Some of the other songs in the movie like “What Ifs,” “Stupid With Love,” and “ I See Stars” were songs in the movie that were hard for me to listen to and enjoy.

Overall the dancing in the movie along with the production of the movie was very good but lacked well performed songs from some of the actors and actresses. Not only was I disappointed by the performance of some songs but I was disappointed by the lack of cameos from the original cast members from the 2004 version of Mean Girls. 

While I was not very impressed by the movie, others that I went with found the movie funny and entertaining. Junior Jayna Gomez said the movie was “ Cheesy but so bad that it was funny”. Gomez has been listening and playing the soundtrack ever since January 14. Some of Gomez’s favorite songs in the movie were “Stupid With Love,” “Sexy,” and “Revenge Party.”

Even though Gomez and I have different perspectives of the movie we can both agree that it was a good experience and worth a watch. After seeing the movie I would say that the reviews from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic are fair and accurate. If you are looking for a decent musical, I recommend going to see Mean Girls.