The release of the new Mean Girls (2024) movie has drawn people of all ages to theaters to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the iconic 2004 film of the same name.

Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arthuro Perez Jr., it is a film adaptation of the musical, Mean Girls, which premiered April 8, 2018.

The story follows Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), a teenage girl who had been home-schooled in Africa all her life. 

She becomes friends with Damien (Jacques Spivey) and Janis (Auli`i Cravalho) who guide her through the culture of American high school.

The main cast is full of this generation’s biggest stars, including Reneé Rapp, Chris Briney, and Angourie Rice. However, there was some discourse surrounding the release, mostly about the accuracy of both the original film and the musical.

The main upset from the theater community involved the music being changed to cater to mainstream pop. 

Songs like “Stupid with Love” were made bland and emotionless. 

Because I watched this movie a few days after the premiere, everyone’s opinions were already flooding social media.  After hearing the disappointing reviews, my expectations were low. Despite this, I was still curious to see if the popular opinion was accurate to my own. 

While it wasn’t as bad as many had warned me, I did feel like it was missing many of the style aspects of the initial movie.

Reneè Rapp’s performance, however, made this movie worthwhile for me. 

Her strong Broadway voice outshined many of her castmates, and her bold attitude made her a perfect and believable choice for the role of Regina.

All in all, I felt that the movie was mediocre. 

While it featured many strong performers and brought a fun new sense to a classic film, it still missed the mark on certain stylistic choices. 

Although it didn’t evoke the sense of nostalgia I was hoping for, it was still enjoyable and worth the trip to the theater. 

I would recommend this movie to fans of the musical who haven’t had the chance to see it live—and fans of teenage comedy movies in general.