Fans of musicals have been waiting since day one to see the “Mean Girls Musical” come to the screen. That day came on January 12th, when Renee Rapp graced the screen as Regina George with a new take on a beloved classic movie. 

Rapp stars alongside many other famous faces, including Angourie Rice as Cady, Christopher Briney as Aaron, and Auli’i Cravalho as Janis. Rapp has played Regina before on Broadway, while the rest are well-known actors, not as known for singing, besides maybe Cravalho who was the voice actor for “Moana.” 

The reviews for the new movie are very mixed. That could have to do with the movie not being advertised as what it is: A MUSICAL. With all that said, let’s get into my personal thoughts on the movie:

It was definitely something. It wasn’t objectively bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either. The plot was essentially the same, but a lot of the added music was fairly disappointing. Although I have never seen the musical, I have listened to a lot of the Broadway recordings, and the movie didn’t do these justice. 

In terms of anything that I can say, my biggest disappointment is why they would pick Rice for Cady, who had several solos in the movie. She can’t sing at near the level of any of the other actors. Not only was the autotune incredibly noticeable, but to favor her singing ability, they cut certain songs, and slowed down one of the better ones. “Stupid with Love” was slow enough to be cringy. It didn’t have the same desperate feel of the song from the musical. She also was pretty much talk-singing the whole thing. It was bad. I can’t even say that “Stars” was good at the end of the movie. It was not nearly as bad, but the autotune was still incredibly noticeable when her voice sounded almost robotic at times. 

They also cut one of the best songs, “Meet the Plastics.” They probably did that for time; however, they said the lines from the song anyway, and the movie was already pretty long, so why they chose not to keep it is beyond me. They should’ve cut one of Rice’s terrible solos instead to keep a song that would have been much more entertaining.

The saving grace of the movie was Cravalho, along with those that played Damian (Jaquel Spivey), Gretchen (Bebe Wood), and to some extent Karen (Avantika Vandanapu), as well as Rapp’s Regina. Vandanapu’s only downfall was being a little pitchy at the beginning of her song, “Sexy” and almost being too believable to the point of being creepy. 

I have nothing but good things to say about Cravalho. Her singing was on point (Cause she actually can sing!!!) Her portrayal of Janis brought her into this new era as the same character with a little extra spunk, and I can’t help but mention that she probably is the main reason I actually enjoyed the movie. By the time we got to “I’d Rather Be Me” I was wondering if I should be hiding in the corner, but that song redeemed my hope for the movie. I loved her and Spivey was a good balance as two openly queer characters who were fine with just being themselves. 

Rapp as Regina was also an extremely good choice. She was technically reprising her role, having played Regina on Broadway. In the musical, Regina has most of the powerhouse belt songs, which Rapp had no trouble with performing. My only complaint about these songs: they made them too poppy instead of keeping them with their musical theatre feel. Yes, Rapp did amazing, but she would’ve done even better without the autotune and pop star vibe that they decided to give her. 

It’s safe to say that Regina and Janis were my favorite characters, and the only thing that made the movie a little better than bad. 

I still did not regret going to the bathroom close to the end when I was wondering if the movie was ever going to end. I missed the Mathlete competition, which also had a “Stupid With Love Reprise” which was honestly not needed. 

The new movie pretty much followed the plot of the original movie, so it definitely felt like “Mean Girls.” I just wish they dived more into the fact that they were making it the musical version and accepted the cheesiness of randomly breaking into song a bit more. Also, pick people who can sing! Sure, Rice looks like Cady, but I think Sabrina Carpenter would have been a much better choice. She’s done it before, and she could do it again, just like with Rapp. 

Therefore, it wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, but it may be worth skipping. As Regina would say “Stop trying to make fetch happen!” because with this movie, that’s definitely not going to work.