PREMISE
Cady Heron 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, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
THE GOOD STUFF
THE CAST- Because of flagrant ingemination (More on that in a second) I canāt help but make direct comparisons to the casting from the first film. In doing that, I find myself surprised that some of the cast members in this film do a lot better in certain roles than the former cast members who occupied the roles beforehand.
Renee Rapp reprised this role from Broadway (and is a real-life pop star) and has charisma to spare. Angourie Rice I feel does just as well as Lindsay Lohan did in the first film and carries the 3rd act admirably. Every single other primary character in this film hits the nail on the head more than the previous film did. AuliŹ»i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey completely stand out as Janice and Damien. Without these two this film wouldnāt be nearly as good as it is.
THE (GOOD) SONGS- This is a really odd musical. This is a movie filled with pop songs more than pop ballads and semi-decent pop songs at that. I do have to point out that āMeet the Plasticsā and āSexyā are the best tracks, and āRevenge Partyā is the best musical number. I appreciate these scenes so much becauseā¦
THE BAD STUFF
THE (SOMEWHAT) ABSENCE OF JAMS- Look, I know this music isnāt necessarily for me. Also, Iām no connoisseur of musicals. These tracks may have absolutely killed it on a Broadway stage being performed live. I can imagine that. But these are not the jams. Even though the previously mentioned songs are very decent, I couldnāt help but ask myself numerous times how the television show Glee managed to make definitively better musical numbers with what has to be a lower budget on an episode-by-episode basis.
I donāt know if Iām becoming a stickler when it comes to the jams, but I live in Los Angeles, and more particularly I tend to go to the Century City theater, where audiences tend to clap at things that they approve of, and cheer for things that they absolutely love. (Itās the main reason to go there honestly) I saw both concert films of Taylor Swift and Beyonce at this theater and people were dancing in the aisles. Itās a lively crowdā¦and they were dead silent for most of these numbers. I feel that this could have been done better. But I do not know how.
THE UGLY STUFF
Complete Ingeminationā Ā let me keep it spoiler-free of course. But in case you did not know this is not a sequel to mean girls, it is not something inspired by mean girls. It is a revival of mean girls. If youāre looking for a more modernized version of a 20-year film (holy f*** mean girls is 20 years old people) then I do not know if this is going to satisfy you.
**************
Mean girls is okay. Itās loudly and fluorescently okay. I donāt know if it was necessary to be made given that it covers a lot of the same beats as the first film did. Respectfully, I think it can be said that although this is an okay film, it does make you appreciate the first film that much more. Iāve often thought of the first mean girls as a pretty good movie, but after seeing this it makes the first one look like a classic.
MEAN GIRLS is in theaters now.