This past weekend I went with my mother to see the modern take on the classic Mean Girls from 2004.
Mean Girls (2024) follows the story of 16-year-old homeschooled Cady Heron after she moves back to the United States from Kenya with her mother and attends North Shore High School.
As the new girl in school, she lacks the popularity or social skills to find the clique that she fits in. The movie follows her story as she struggles to fit in with the “plastics” along with her artistic friends.
As in the original, Cady becomes infatuated with the life of being the “it” girl and getting her revenge on Regina George. While she at first pretends to be plastic for the end goal of the revenge plan, she transforms into the next Regina George toward the end of the film and ultimately becomes the bully and narcissist she was trying to take down.
Mean Girls adds many modern elements to the social aspect of the high school experience, including elements of TikTok, online rumors, scandals, and more to advance the rise and fall of both Cady and Regina.
Much of the music is catchy and switches between a more upbeat to cynical vibe as the plot progresses.
However, the music at times felt a bit awkward for the scene or caused the movie to feel more like a play. In many scenes, the singing would freeze the moment as if the characters were on a stage to allow the characters a chance to convey their feelings or thoughts solely to the audience. While this was strong visually in some scenes, it did not work as well in others, and in turn, created an imbalance in how the movie flowed.
Additionally, the movie’s pacing sometimes felt a bit “off,” with some scenes dragging out while the ending felt a bit rushed.
Although, in my opinion, the ending portion of Mean Girls was the most enjoyable.
Overall, Mean Girls presents a new and modern take on the classic genre of the new girl coming to school.
The acting, visuals, and comedy are very strong.
While the pacing and how the music flowed could have been improved, it didn’t take too much away from the general enjoyment of the movie.
Due to this, of a perfect score of 10, Mean Girls sits at a six for me.