The Stream: A carbon copy of the original film with boring songs added.

The Big Screen: Renee Rapp is a fantastic singer.

The Final Bill: When compared to the original film, this movie is not funny, clever, fun or interesting.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr.
Writers: Tina Fey based on the stage musical “Mean Girls” by Tina Fey
Stars: Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Rating: PG-13 for sexual material, strong language, and teen drinking
Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, Little Stranger, Broadway Video
Platform: In theaters on January 12, 2024
Notable Trailers: Lisa Frankenstein, The First Omen, IF

What’s up, Streamers! It seems like if we are not getting the 7th episode in some superhero movie franchise, then we are getting a remake of a remake of a movie into a musical these days. We just had The Color Purple (2023), and now we have the adaptation of the Broadway musical version of the 2004 movie Mean Girls. Here’s whether Mean Girls (2024), the musical, is fetch.

Mean Girls (2004) could be a classic high school movie. Maybe it’s on a lower tier than some of your other high school movies. Anyway, Mean Girls (2024) is a musical that has the same basic storyline as the original movie. Cady Herron (Angourie Rice) is the new girl in school. She was previously homeschooled in Africa by her mother and has recently returned to the United States. On her first day at North Shore High School, Cady makes friends with outcast, Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damien (Jaquel Spivey), who introduce her to the clique hierarchy of the school, including the Plastics. Cady gets invited to join the Plastics, led by Regina George (Renee Rapp), for lunch for the week.  Janis convinces Cady to infiltrate the Plastics and eventually take down Regina, the queen bee of the school.  Singing and dancing teenage hijinks ensue.

Here’s the problem with Mean Girls (2024). It’s boring. There aren’t any clever new things added to the 20-year-old story to make this a worthwhile viewing experience. The songs are not good or memorable. Even the dance sequences have no energy that would draw you in. The best thing about the songs is when Renee Rapp is singing. In fact, Rapp’s singing makes the others look mediocre by comparison. Many of the jokes from the original are present or recycled and they all feel stale, tired and unfunny. Maybe someone who has never seen the original and who really likes Broadway musicals will enjoy this, but I have seen the original too many times and really enjoyed what the original cast and script brought to the high school teen comedy. There’s nothing that fresh here, which is a bummer.

Ultimately, Mean Girls (2024) is not fetch. It seems the only additions to this version are the musical numbers and references to social media, which was not prevalent in 2004. The songs are not memorable though, at least, Renee Rapp brings her stellar vocal stylings to the table.  The actors playing these well-established roles do not bring anything clever or new; and worst of all, it’s not funny. For the fans of the original, just rewatch that if you need a Mean Girls fix because this won’t do it for you. If you’re part of the new generation like you’re currently in a high school musical, then you might enjoy these with a bowl of popcorn.