With a film as beloved as Mean Girls, matching its greatness with a reboot or sequel was always going to be a tall order.
The question is, has the new movie adaptation of the Mean Girls musical pulled it off? Well, critics can’t seem to make up their minds.
Reviews for the long-awaited film were released on Wednesday afternoon, and while some were full of praise for the updated version of the 20-year-old classic, others have written it off completely.
While Renée Rapp has largely been praised for her performance as Regina George, others seem to be under the impression this new spin on Mean Girls fails to step out of the shadow cast by the original film.
Curious? Here’s a selection of what critics have had to say about Mean Girls, starting with some of the more forgiving..
“A delightful confection that expands on the original comedy thanks to a modern-day POV and catchy numbers. Think of it like a great cover song remix with special guest Jon Hamm as the health teacher/coach. Get in, loser, and enjoy the ride.”
“I’ll just say that after you’ve seen the pop singer Renée Rapp, as the head mean girl Regina, make her grand entrance in a black vinyl bodysuit, singing ‘My name is Regina George, and I am a massive deal…’, as if she were Anita Ekberg crossed with Mata Hari, the scene carries a jolt, and you may wonder for a moment how Rachel McAdams, in the original film, made the impact she did without that song.”
“The movie’s true star is [Renée] Rapp, who transforms queen bee Regina George into a she-monster of epic proportions [...] It’s a daring performance, a portrait of a master manipulator unwilling to release herself from the prison of her own popularity.”
Digital Spy (4/5 stars)
“It’s a new interpretation of a familiar story that’s been updated for the TikTok generation. Fear not though, it still remembers to please the original fans and doesn’t make us feel (too) old. It is, as Gretchen would love us to say, so fetch.”
“Rapp, who was also in the show’s stage production, plays Regina with a combination of lethal sexual command and — briefly, anyway — winning vulnerability [...] compared to her, everyone else [...] tumbles down and falls away, like chalk cliffs endlessly battered by a surging sea.”
“While Mean Girls 2024 commendably attempts to modernise and expand upon its predecessor, it ultimately struggles to deliver a cohesive and engaging narrative. The film’s lack of focus, inconsistent musical integration, and unnecessary over-sexualisation overshadow its few strengths. The 2004 film has cemented its place in cinema and pop-culture, while the 2024 version is likely to be forgotten.”
USA Today (2.5/4 stars)
“The new musical doesn’t really reproduce the stage show as much as it is a TikTok-themed redo of the 2004 Lindsay Lohan teen comedy – a film that was just fine the first time, thank you – with a smattering of showtunes. It’s not a bad thing, really, but mainly feels like an unnecessary one.”
Slant (2.5/4 stars)
“While fundamentally entertaining, this new film often finds itself in distractingly constant conversation with its original source material. It’s as if the act of paying spot-lit homage to classic moments (October 3rd! You go, Glen Coco! Her hair is full of secrets!) is as equally important as convincingly telling the central story.”
“In the end, it seems this team was trying to wed Mean Girls with High School Musical, bleeding out the bits that might have been too jolting for parents so that kids could expand the demographic. It’s a strange call since both movies are PG-13. But there’s no denying this Mean Girls is playing it safe. And that’s not fetch.”
The AV Club (C+)
“The musical numbers and callbacks to the memeable jokes of the 2004 film work well for a production that is couching its existence on fondness for, and familiarity with, a popular film; a whole subgenre of stage musicals relies on this exact conceit. But it’s bizarre for a film remake to couch itself so heavily on that same familiarity, recycling jokes enough times that it comes across as cynical. It begs the question of why you wouldn’t just watch the original again.”
“A tuneless mess [...] all the effervescence and fun have been drained out of the material in this labored reincarnation, a movie musical made by people who appear to have zero understanding of movie-musical vernacular.”
Collider (4/10)
“Unfortunately, this musical version of Mean Girls doesn’t have greater ambitions than reminding people that there was already a Mean Girls movie and delivering tunes on par with the average track on the Wish soundtrack. The fate of fetch may be up in the air, but Mean Girls as a musical movie? That’s clearly not going to happen.”
Mean Girls arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 19 January.