The story of Mean Girls follows Cady Heron. Although born in America she has spent much of her childhood with her parents in Kenya being homeschooled. But now they return to the states and like a fish out of water Cady is thrust into the world of high school drama, getting herself mixed up with the so-called “plastics”, a local clique led by the ruthless Regina George. Throughout the story Cady goes from being effectively an informant on the plastics to becoming a plastic herself, which becomes her downfall. But just like any true rise-and-fall narrative she redeems herself when she owns up to the mistakes she has made along the way and changes the school for the better. Although I’m describing the story in a manner that suggests a great work of classic literature from Homer or Shakespeare, the truth of the matter is that this is the synopsis of the 2004 cult hit Mean Girls, with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams in the lead roles of Cady and Regina respectively. The film has effectively reached the status of a comedy classic, gaining new fans daily. It is often cited in memes and gifs, and lines from the film are quoted regularly on the internet. So naturally it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided “hey let’s take this classic and redo it, because we’ve run out of ideas.” So now we’re twenty years later being treated with a new version of the story, only this time with the added element of songs because this is also an adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the film that premiered in 2019.
Given the twenty years between this new film and the original there is ample opportunity for the filmmakers to spice up the narrative with issues such as the greater importance of social media in everyday life and its impact on the mental health of teenagers. And boy do they really try to make a point of this film being produced in the 2020s, with its constant references to TikTok and Instagram via numerous montages with supporting characters posting videos online and dissecting various plot points. But beyond that, the story is almost word for word the same as it was in the original film. Cady’s initial awkwardness is still here, Regina taking Cady under her wing, Cady conspiring with Janis and Damian to ruin Regina’s life, Cady regretting some of her choices etc. It’s almost surprising how identical it is to the original. And yet, the story this time around feels oddly toothless in comparison. When the film has the word “mean” in the title I expect something truly nasty and abhorrent to happen, but it feels as if all the edge of the original has been trimmed away at the expense of at times pointless musical numbers or softening some of the harshness of the original, maybe to make sure no one is offended because apparently Gen Z doesn’t understand the concept of “depiction does not equal endorsement” or something? The worst insults from Regina George’s burn book are things like “fugly bitch”, when the original had comments like “fat whore”, “fat virgin”, calling others “sluts”, Coach Carr was dating underage students and Regina lied to a girls mom to say she was pregnant because the girl was with someone else’s boyfriend. I get we’re in a different time now than the mid-2000s comedies produced by SNL-alums, but this is all stuff that makes the original stand out because it was willing to go to those lengths to show how vacuous and emotionally immature teenagers can be.
Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their respective roles of Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall. If you’re going to do a remake or a reinvention of an older piece of material, why don’t the filmmakers go all the way and replace the entire cast, especially since everyone else has been replaced? Was this just to appease fans of the original? Or was it unimaginable to recast Tina Fey simply because she wrote the script for both this new version and the 2004 original? But if they kept this up then I wonder why they bothered to replace Amy Poehler as Regina George’s mother with Busy Phillips? I personally would’ve preferred to see different actors inhabit these roles, because otherwise it comes across like the filmmakers pandering to the fans of the original and going “hey remember this?” To quote Tony Soprano, “remember when” is the lowest form of conversation, and it also applies to filmmaking in this case.
Now I am fully aware that I am not the target audience for this film. But that question did arise from the conversation I had with my friends after seeing the film, where we discussed who the target audience for the film actually was. Fans of the original maybe? But then why wouldn’t they just rewatch the original? Or was this an attempt to reach out to a TikTok-infested Gen Z who may never have seen the original but have seen the various gifs, memes and quotes and might be curious about this old relic of mid-2000s mainstream comedy? I suspect the latter, since the film is so frontloaded with various TikTok/Instagram montages and references to social media and with lines of dialogue such as “slay queen”. There were also quite a few teenage girls in my screening of the film, so I suspect this film is aimed at them. And that is fine, if that is your demographic then go for it, don’t waste your time trying to win over male twenty somethings like me who may not gravitate towards this kind of film. But given the lack of laughs from the audience in my screening of the film, I feel slightly validated in dismissing the films comedic elements as lackluster and not striking a proper chord in the target audience. In summation I can confidently say: just go watch the original.
A Fistful of Film 