MEAN GIRLS (2024)

A musical remake of the 2004 film finds Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) fresh off the plane from Kenya and home schooled for her entire life, trying to adapt to life at North Shore High School. She befriends Queen B Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her fellow clique members Karen Shetty (Avantika) and Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood). Both Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles as Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall. Outside of the songs, the film follows the exact same beats as the original. I knew this was a musical heading into it and while the songs were thankfully short, I still wasn't a fan and thought the singing and dancing to be unnecessary. In addition, the new group of young women across the board fail to compare to the originals: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried. Once again Hollywood tries and fails to resurrect a classic for a new generation when they should have left well enough alone. Finally, and I couldn't help but notice that Cady's father (who was played by Neil Flynn in the original), is completely written out of this story without any explanation. Curious choice and I'm wondering why? 6/10