JANUARY_UNIKUM_WEB

REVIEW
MEAN Girls - Review
Tobias Klausen
Writer
Photos: IMDb; Paramount Pictures
Twenty years ago, the cinematography scene was blessed with a
contemporary masterpiece called “Mean Girls”. Was it the most
profound movie ever made? No. Was it the most unique title to
break onto the scene? No. But does it remain almost an entire
generation’s favorite chick flick from the early 2000’s? Most likely.
It’s a tough act to follow, just look at “Mean Girls 2”, the sequel
almost no one wants to recognize, and a few have never heard of
or forget even exists, myself included. It floundered in trying to
recreate the lighting in a bottle that
was the original. But here we are,
twenty years later, and a new, or
rather, reimagining of “Mean Girls”
is back on the screen. Tina Fey is once
again back to write the screenplay
and even reprise her role. But will
this new movie be able to outshine
the original or is it bound to live in
the long shadow of the first film?
The story follows Cady Heron
(Angourie Rice) who is a
homeschooled girl living in Kenya
with her mother (Jenna Fischer),
as she moves to the States and gets
to experience the excruciating and
exhilarating adventure of high
school. She quickly learns that
here there’s certain rules and a
hierarchy that needs to be learned
and followed to survive, and before
she knows it, she’s tangled in the
vicious girl group known as the
Plastics, headed by the gorgeous
Regina George (Reneé Rap) and her
goons Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and
Karen (Avantika Vandanapu). Cady
finds herself in love with Regina’s
ex-boyfriend, Aaron (Christopher
Briney), which quickly turns the
catty friendship into in all-out battlefield, all is fair in love and war,
right? With Cady’s two friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian
(Jaquel Spivey), they plot their revenge and chaos ensues.
The story has the familiar beats that we fell in love with in the
original with a few twists to modernize it, and mixing a few plot
points. Certain characters get more screen time, more lines and
overall, more love, while others lose out on it. Some lines are
directly ripped from the original, and fans of the first film will be
able to predict when they come. These don’t tingle the nostalgic
nerves how I had hoped, instead they just feel a bit misplaced and
there for the sake of nostalgia. Where the movie shines is when it
tries something new, to do its own thing. Luckily, the light-hearted
and fun tone is still there, this is a funny movie, with a plethora
of jokes that land when they don’t rear into the nostalgic realm
and instead focus on creating something new. This is where the
movie excels, when it’s not constrained to its heritage, but trying
to forge something new. However, the story occasionally has some
strange pacing, sometimes feeling as if
it wants to hurry up on to the next scene
like its on a tight schedule, and with
a 112-minute run-time it could have
spent a few extra minutes to smooth
out transitions between scenes without
causing offense.
The most noticeable difference between
this reimagining and the original is that
this interpretation is a musical (the
screenplay written from the Broadway
musical version of Mean Girls). Despite
the trailers not hammering this point
through, the first five minutes will, it has
the typical overblown choreography
and musical numbers you will associate
with musicals. They’re a hit and a miss,
some are fun, others overstay their
welcome or feel a bit forced. The cast do
great vocal work and not a single beat
is missed. However, the songs kind of
mesh together, with none really sticking
out apart from “World Burn.” It doesn’t
elevate the movie in any way; however,
it doesn’t detract from it either, it’s an
acceptable addition. I won’t be playing
these songs on repeat, but at the same
time I won’t be appalled if someone
puts one on during a car ride.
The big question is: The new actresses/
actors, can they live up to the original? To answer it shortly, yes,
they live up to them, but don’t overshadow them, and that is
the perfect balance. Each actor doesn’t feel like a carbon copy,
but instead like a different approach to the characters we know.
The antagonist Regina was originally a bubbly girl who used her
smile to hide her wolf’s clothing, whereas Rap brings a more
subtle menace to Regina, she’s not as bubbly and pretty but rather
subdued and sexy, knowing fully well what she’s capable of. Cady
too, Rice plays her more as a clueless and weird homeschooled girl,
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