Mean Girls
Mean Girls is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 13.
STORY: B+
It’s a smart update that still stays true to the classic, original story.
Making a remake can be tricky. People want the same movie, but they don’t want the exact same movie. It’s a delicate needle that Mean Girls threads with bounce and bustle.
Let me give you a home renovation analogy: You’ll see tons of changes when you walk into this house, but it’s still the same house. They’ve done little demo, if any. Each wall remains standing. Every room is the same shape. But they’ve chucked all the old furniture and artwork and replaced it with decor that matches the tastes of today.
PEOPLE: B
You might miss the original crew, but this new cast shines.
No one’s going to replace the original cast. If you can make peace with that, you will love the new edition. Particularly Renee Rapp and Angourie Rice.
FILM NERD STUFF: A-
The filmmakers translate the grammar of theater into the language of cinema, with fabulous results.
So many stage adaptations fail on film because they feel small. It’s like they forget that the story no longer needs to be confined to the size of a small stage.
Mean Girls begins by jumping from an unfinished garage to the Kenyan savannah to the North Shore High parking lot in a matter of seconds. No massive, cumbersome set changes are required.
Not only can movies do stuff like this with the snap of a finger, they need to do things like this in order to keep the audience engaged. Otherwise, films can get lost in translation. Thankfully for us, this one knows exactly where it is and what it is.
THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME (Elective Class): A-
We need the movie’s original message more than ever.
In 2004 when Mean Girls originally came out, social media was just a small, tiny, modest, microscopic, teensy, eensy, weensy version of what it is now. It constantly feeds us the message that if we only make a few (thousand) changes, we’ll finally transform into the person we want to be.
You’ve got dreams. You want things in this life. And you probably think that you need to become someone else in order to get them.
That’s definitely not the case. Mean Girls’s message has always been true, and it always will be, even if it sounds a little bit unbelievable: You’ll only attract the things you really want when you stop being someone else and embrace the real you.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Is it as good as the original? I don’t think it is. But I really don’t think you should dismiss this new, fantastic version for that reason.
Because didn’t we learn that it’s totally terrible to reject something (or someone) just because it’s not as good/pretty/cool/fetch as something (or someone) else?
It doesn’t matter which Mean Girls is better. This one is great. Go and see it and love it for what it is and talk about it with your friends and decide for yourself whether you think it’s grool or not.