When the main character, Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) comes on screen I thought – wow, she looks like actress Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office). Apparently others felt that way, as Fischer was cast to play her mom.
And since I’m talking about the cast, my wife and I both agreed our favorite character was Karen Shetty (Avantika Vandanapu). Her Halloween song is incredible. It’s all about wearing sexy costumes (sample lyrics: I can be a sexy pirate/Or a sexy ballet dancer
I can be a sexy doctor/And cure some sexy cancer!)
Oh, did I mention, this is a musical version of the 2004 film “Mean Girls”?
A close second for favorite character (characters) would be the lesbian and gay guy, Janice and Damian (Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey). They’re the ones that convince Cady to infiltrate the “Plastics” to find out what the cool girls gossip about.
I mentioned in my review of “Dream Scenario” that it was great to see Tim Meadows. Here he’s back as the principal, and so is the screenwriter of both of these films – his SNL castmate Tina Fey.
I’m sure everyone knows the story – a homeschooled girl from Kenya, comes to a Midwest school and tries to navigate the various cliques. Things get tough when she develops a crush on the guy in her calculus class who used to date Regina George, the most popular, and meanest, of the Plastics.
I saw that one critic complained this movie was a scene by scene remake. Well, that’s not exactly true. Yet it is a bit of a retread of the original film, but with a lot of clever songs, making this rather fun. And seeing all the characters and stories I remembered from two decades ago, well…felt like the fun you have going to your 20 year high school reunion. Of course, there are some that would dread attending that, for a variety of reasons. I enjoyed seeing these old characters again, portrayed by a terrific new cast. It’s just a shame this version has a bit less bite. It’s also not as charming. I found the movie “Theater Camp” from last year a bit more enjoyable, although that could be because we’re meeting those characters for the first time.
It’s not necessary to have seen the original, so a new generation can enjoy this. They’ll probably be more familiar with rising star Rapp, from “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and a hit album.
When we’re told the Plastics are supposed to wear pink on Wednesday, it made me think of all the pink outfits that moviegoers wore when they attended “Barbie” and how much better this movie is with a much funnier and better written feminist creed. There’s a great small part from one of the original cast members, and another small part had Jon Hamm playing the coach and sex ed teacher. That reminded me of his being in the remake of “Fletch” a few years ago. This might not have been as funny as Fletch, but it was certainly “fetch.”
3 stars out of 5.