The New ‘Mean Girls’ Movie Was Never Going To Be Good

There’s been main drama taking place this previous week. No, we’re not speaking about these Oscar snubs. We’re speaking about all these Imply Women walkouts that flooded social media after the film’s January 12 premiere.

In the event you have been on TikTok final week, you then might need even seen a preferred video exhibiting audiences audibly groaning on the film’s overuse of music. It’s since been eliminated for copyright causes, however the reality stays that many Imply Women followers weren’t pleased with this contemporary replace on the 2004 traditional.

After all, a part of that disappointment was attributable to Paramount Photos’ advertising and marketing of the movie, which promised a simple remake and nothing else. In actuality, the film was a remake of the Imply Women musical that hit Broadway in 2017. That meant that strains like “Is butter a carb” have been all of the sudden changed with limitless songs written by Tina Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin. And the unique musical was not precisely Hamilton.

However viewers may be forgiven for not understanding Imply Women was a musical. In spite of everything, related tales have performed out for The Coloration Purple and Wonka, each of which benefited from trailers obfuscating their musicality. On this case, nevertheless, Imply Women’ actual downside was that it was fairly mid.

Similar to she did with the unique Imply Women, screenwriter Tina Fey lent a sly wit to this new iteration. Nevertheless it hardly ever emerged – buried, because it was, underneath layers of up to date updates. A few of these have been obligatory: Characters may now use social media, as an example. Additionally they referenced veganism and gender-neutral bathrooms as a substitute of slut-shaming one another (see: “Boo, you whore,” which was rightfully lacking). Coach Carr’s sex-ed lecture was extra attuned to 2024 sensibilities. And there have been no landlines.

However Fey’s new screenplay refused to make the modifications that followers really needed to see, a.ok.a. making Regina George a closeted lesbian. As an alternative, Reneé Rapp was left to fill within the blanks and play the character as queer in her personal thoughts. On high of this, the screenplay not noted traditional strains like “It’s like I’ve ESPN or one thing” in lieu of recent jokes that always felt shoehorned in. (Additionally lacking: The beloved “Oh my god, Danny DeVito, I like your work.”)

Even the style updates weren’t working. Although usually harking back to present Gen Z fashions, the movie didn’t create something as immediately iconic as Regina’s pink cardigan lewk from the unique flick. As Paper Journal was in a position to discern from this movie’s trailer alone, this new Imply Women skipped inventive modern costuming in favor of superficial 2020 updates.

Thus, when all was sung and executed, the movie amounted to precisely what it marketed: A mere remake of the wittier 2004 Imply Women. Sure, the songs have been there, however they didn’t add a lot. (Extra on that later.) This positioned an unfair burden on the remake’s forged. That’s to not shade Reneé Rapp, who had rizz to spare and ate in each scene. However it’s to say that hilarious performers like Busy Philipps needed to work onerous to flee their predecessors’ shadow. And contemplating that this “new” model had the identical plot, characters, and dialogue as the unique, it virtually begged viewers to match these actors to their 2004 counterparts. Clearly, nothing can evaluate to Amy Poehler declaring herself a “cool mother,” sorry.

To her credit score, Tina Fey did attempt to make this cinematic money seize into one thing recent. “It’s difficult as a result of jokes must be surprises to work,” she informed Leisure Weekly. “There’s just a little nostalgic dopamine that we get, however I realized doing the musical that if you would like it to play as a joke, it’s not going to play the identical if it’s simply the identical. So discovering real new moments after which discovering spots to subvert what you anticipate the outdated line to be was actually useful.”

However Fey nonetheless left in many elderly jokes to maintain followers completely satisfied, which created an uphill battle in her quest to make a “new” Imply Women. After which there have been these very meh songs. These have been actively working towards something Fey may do.

When Imply Women hit Broadway in 2017, it obtained very middling opinions – principally due to its music. Songs like Gretchen Wieners’ “What’s Fallacious With Me” barely scraped the floor of those characters’ psyches, serving extra as musical bookends than insightful showstoppers. As an alternative, they said the plain in an earnest, typically straight-faced manner – and with none catchy hooks to carry them up. None of them, save for Janis Ian’s “I’d Relatively Be Me” (and perhaps “World Burn”), have been memorable.

Actually, the 2024 Imply Women apparently acknowledged this and graciously lower many songs from its soundtrack, together with the run-of-the-mill “The place Do You Belong?,“ “Fearless,“ “Whose Home Is This?,” and “Extra Is Higher.” However the remaining songs, though higher, didn’t attain the heights of, say, “Defying Gravity.” Consequently, viewers have been solely left with Tina Fey’s beloved authentic strains from the 2004 model to maintain them entertained. And even these didn’t hit as nicely, since they have been crammed in merely as fan service.

All that being mentioned, we are able to no less than be grateful that Renée Rapp is changing into a family identify and that Avantika Vandanapu is the Web’s latest It Lady. The remainder of this forged is nothing to smell at, both. Even Lindsay Lohan may profit from all this press – particularly after Tina Fey shaded her within the script.

Let’s simply hope that the following tasks for these girls don’t induce mass walkouts.