My name is NOT Regina George, but it is Ashley, and I did watch Mean Girls, which came out this past week.
Look, I’m a massive fan of both the original movie and the Broadway musical version this movie is based on. If you didn’t know that and aren’t into musicals, I hope that saved you a movie trip. But, as I’m reading a lot of online chatter and memes, a handful of attendees were not aware of the musical-ness of it all. Ooopsies.
That’s not to say the storyline did a complete 180 from the original movie; there were some modern tweaks to be made that spoke more to this day and age, such as:
- Taking out the student/teacher affair
- That iconic little sister dance
- Cady doesn’t have a dad in this version
- The Burn Book wasn’t photocopied. It was shared via text.
Regina George? No, It’s Reneé Rapp
Mean Girls is a fresh new take on the incomparable classic that is constantly being quoted to this day with new plastics and cast to take on the iconic roles. However, Renee Rapp isn’t a stranger to Regina George. She was the titular character during the Broadway run pre-COVID, but that all shut down once stay-at-home orders were enforced. I was not familiar with her take on Regina before this movie, but seeing Rapp be her unequivocal self on social media and her role as Leighton Murray on The Sex Lives of College Girls, I already knew she’d nail the role. To be honest, Leighton already gave off major Regina-in-college vibes, kind of what we all expected her to be like post-original Mean Girls. Remember she was on the lacrosse team and whatnot?
And please tell me I wasn’t the only one who realized this, but Regina George was not dominantly shown in the movie as I thought she was. Albeit, she had her moments here and there, she was a flicker in the wind. The name that made everyone cower and hide. However, when she was on screen, Renee knew how to work that camera and make the scene HERS.
Absolute Scene Stealers
Speaking of scenes, the absolute scene stealer award goes to Janis Sarkisian, portrayed by Auliʻi Cravalho, and Karen Shetty (last name formerly Smith), portrayed by Avantika Vandanapu. Janis, in the Broadway version, had me in LOVE with the actor, and Cravalho evoked the same feeling seeing her on the big screen. Avantika is lesser known but is familiar to the Disney family with her movie Spin. As much as we loved Karen Smith with the boobs that can tell the weather forecast, Avantika was GIVING with her solo breakout song during the house party and her quick one “dumb” liners. I expect this Halloween season to go OFF with this audio on all social platforms. A sexy doctor? Sexy cancer? Say less.
SPOILER: THE CAMEOS
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Who else screamed when they saw our girl Lindsey Lohan at the Mathletes competition? I was so glad they were able to bring in a few more familiar faces other than Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall (who are now together?) They brought together 3 out of the 4 plastics for a WALMART commercial; surely, they could have at least thrown in a slight nod to Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert.
So, Was Mean Girls Fetch or Not?
Sure, there were slight newer updates that made sense for this movie and slight nods to the 2004 film, such as the iconic purple bra and tank top scene, which was replaced with Regina getting drenched with water and her eyeliner dripping down her face, which ultimately led to all the girls in the school to copy that look. But if I were to compare the two, they stood out in their own way. Nothing will ever replace the 2004 Mean Girls, but this did a good job upholding that same love. It wasn’t like the knockoff Mean Girls 2, which I haven’t seen but already know was a huge, disappointing flop. loud sigh
