It can be a strange experience watching something so close to its beloved predecessor \u2013 but Tina Fey is still a class act. <\/p>
By Emma Simmonds\n \t\t<\/p>
Published: Friday, 12 January 2024 at 14:52 PM<\/p>
Two decades after it first hit cinemas, Mean Girls gets a musical reboot, based on the Tony-nominated stage show. The enduring popularity of the 2004 film, which captured the savagery of schooldays with pep and panache, has kept it part of our cultural fabric. But folding some poppy showtunes into the mix is an appealing notion, while a lot has changed in 20 years\u2026<\/p>\n
Screenwriter Tina Fey updates her original script (itself based on Rosalind Wiseman\u2019s 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes) and steps back into the sensible shoes of beleaguered maths teacher Ms Norbury (also returning is her admirer, Principal Duvall, played by Tim Meadows). Angourie Rice takes over from Lindsay Lohan as new kid Cady, who goes from being homeschooled in rural Africa by her anthropologist mother (Jenna Fischer) to being thrown into the jungle of US high school.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Cady is taken under the wing of two savvy outsiders, Janis (Auli\u2019i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), who also act as the film\u2019s narrators, and is simultaneously drawn to a group of ostensibly popular girls: the notorious \u201cPlastics\u201d. Led by Rene\u00e9 Rapp\u2019s total biatch Regina (the \u201capex predator\u201d as one song dubs her), with Avantika\u2019s dim-witted Karen and Bebe Wood\u2019s eager-to-please Gretchen making up numbers, the clique are the talk of the corridors.<\/p>\n
But acceptance into the fold comes at a price and the trio are not to be trusted. And when Cady falls for Regina\u2019s ex, Aaron (Christopher Briney), things get ugly fast.<\/p>
It can be a bit of a strange experience watching something that is so close to its beloved predecessor, particularly as the film has opted to retain much of the original script. Without a significant rewrite, some of the attempts to bring things up to date \u2013 mainly in the form of social media hot takes \u2013 can feel a little tacked on.<\/p>\n
However, most of Fey\u2019s new gags blend in seamlessly and, with the line delivery occasionally coming across like an odd imitation of what\u2019s gone before, it\u2019s the new jokes rather than the old that stand out.<\/p>\n
Debut narrative feature directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr do a decent, at times dynamic job, incorporating the musical numbers impressively with slick, snappy transitions. The kids bursting fairly randomly into song can be fun, and yet \u2013 and this is the real sticking point \u2013 the tunes themselves (which presumably are the justification for the entire project) don\u2019t exactly pop.<\/p>\n
Fey\u2019s husband, Jeff Richmond, is behind the music, with Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde: The Musical) on lyrics, yet what they\u2019ve come up with lacks the same comic snap as Fey\u2019s script, or hooks so catchy that it would hardly matter. And, although the musical numbers bring extra attitude to the party, they can sometimes feel like a belaboured explanation of what we already know.<\/p>\n
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