Film / Mean Girls (2024)

Fetch happens.

Mean Girls is a 2024 musical comedy film and a Recursive Adaptation of the musical of the same name written by Tina Fey with songs by Jeff Richmond and Neil Benjamin, based off the 2004 film written by Fey, based loosely off the parenting book Queen Bees and Wannabees: How to Help Your Daughter Survive Gossip, Cliques, Boyfriends and the New Reality of Girl World by Rosalind Wiseman. Fey once more pens the script and reprises her role as Ms. Norbury, joined by Tim Meadows reprising his role as Principal Duvall. The new cast is filled out by Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli'i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Bebe Wood, Avantika Vandanapu, Christopher Briney, and Jon Hamm. Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne direct.

Once more, the film will follow Cady, the new girl in school, and her clash with the cool girls, the Plastics, lead by Regina George. When Cady manages to uncover Regina’s “Burn Book”, however, the high school social structure is thrown into chaos. The film was theatrically released on January 12, 2024, with the digital version released on February 20th of the same year.

Previews: Trailer, Final Trailer

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Mean Girls contains examples of the following:

• Actor Allusion: Ashley Park, whose breakout screen role was in Emily in Paris, is teaching high school French in the film.
• Adaptational Context Change:
  • The verse in "Apex Predator" about Janis not having as much power as Regina is recontextualized here. In the show, Cady sings this as she compares the unpopular Janis to the all-powerful Regina, hinting at her Becoming the Mask later on. In this version, the verse is sung by Damian instead, with him simply telling Cady that Janis isn't as popular as Regina.
  • Originally, Karen flubbing her words in "Sexy" led to a brief fourth wall gag where she halted the show, stepped offstage, and restarted the number from the top. Here, she sings the song while recording for TikTok, and when she messes up the words, she just cuts the recording and starts a new video.
• Adaptational Dye-Job:
  • Gretchen goes from being a brunette to a blonde.
  • Karen, an infamous Dumb Blonde in the film and musical, is portrayed as a brunette in this version.
  • Cady is a redhead in the original, but strawberry blonde in this version.
  • Aaron has brown hair in the original, but is dirty blonde in this. Likewise, Shane Oman was blonde originally but has brown hair in this.
• Adaptational Diversity:
  • The film's original main cast was almost entirely white; here, Janis, Damian and Karen are all portrayed by people of color, and Janis is explicitly queer rather than being Mistaken for Gay.
  • While Damian was the only explicitly gay character in the first film, this version features a number of same-sex relationships among the background characters, as well as students dressing in gender-nonconforming ways, demonstrating the increased prevalence and overall acceptance of queer youth.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Downplayed; Cady's behavior after Becoming the Mask is a bit colder than in the original film, with her directly revealing Regina's infidelity to Aaron in the hopes of getting together with him and explicitly denying Regina permission to sit with the Plastics after her weight gain.
  • While she also gets some of the opposite treatment, Regina still has some exceptionally jerkish moments compared to the original:
    • Her treatment of Janis in their backstory is made even worse here than it was in the original: after seemingly supporting her newly-out friend, Regina kissed Janis at a party to get a boy's attention, then roundly mocked her sexuality to the rest of the school, discarding a friend for her own gain.
    • Likewise, in the 2004 original, she tells off Jason for flirting with Cady, but here, her treatment of Jason is more mean spirited and even tells off Kevin and his offer to Cady to join the North Shore Mathletes.
      Regina George: Ew, no. Why is he by our table?
      Kevin Ganatra: I can hear you, by the way.
      Regina George: Can you hear me now? [whispers and waves] Bye.
  • Janis retains her meaner elements from 2004 and in at least one aspect is actually nastier; when Cady is reluctant to manipulate Gretchen, noting she is emotionally fragile, Janis is delighted to hear about this vulnerability in Regina's inner circle.
  • The original Mrs. George was vacuous and pathetically trying to be friends with her daughter and her friends, but mostly pleasant and harmless. This time around, she's the one who introduces the Burn Book, calling it the funniest thing the Plastics used to do.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Gretchen claims to have a 140 IQ, though this is essentially an Informed Ability since she never displays anything above average intelligence in the film and makes the same mistakes the 2004 version did (being unable to perform math, using the word 'irregardless') without any indication she is employing Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Downplayed with Regina, who, for the most part, is the same Alpha Bitch she always was, and even gets a nasty new Kick the Dog moment in her and Janis' backstory, but still has a few moments:
    • Here, she's less inclined to use homophobic, ableist, or body-shaming language — though this could be an unintended side-effect of the movie's Kinder and Cleaner approach. She also reconciles with Cady and even Janis at the Spring Fling after being hit by the bus (though she attributes this to being on a lot of painkillers).
    • She still says her mean commentary when being read the Burn Book, but she says that Dawn Schweitzer, who's labeled as a horny shrimp, is taller now.
  • Coach Carr is no less stupid or dislikable than he was in the original film, but here, he isn't preying on female students.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: A few examples of this happen in the movie:
  • Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall are in some kind of non-professional relationship here, exchanging "I love you"s and chore duty.
  • In the original film, Kevin ended up with Janis. In this version, Janis is a lesbian and Kevin instead ends up with Gretchen, who has broken up with Jason for good.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • In the original film, Janis was, at most, Ambiguously Gay and seemed to end up with Kevin; this film portrays her as explicitly queer, and even has her attend the Spring Fling with an unnamed girlfriend.
  • In the original film Karen seemed to be straight, or at least only demonstrated onscreen interest in boys. In this film while we never see her in a romantic situation onscreen, there are frequent references to her sleeping with "11 people" of undefined gender. This can arguably be taken as implying that she is bisexual.
  • Regina is also Ambiguously Gay or perhaps Ambiguously Bi in this film. Her actress Renee Rapp confirmed that she explicitly played the character as a lesbian who has no genuine interest in either Aaron or Shane and that Regina was flirting with Cady in the "get in, loser" scene. invoked
• Adaptational Sympathy:
  • In the original film, Janis hated Regina for (presumably falsely) outing her as gay and causing her to become a social pariah. Here, her hatred of Regina has a much more sympathetic cause; when they were younger and Janis came out of the closet, Regina initially supported her, but exploited Janis' sexuality to get a boy's attention, then widely mocked Janis, even using a stuffed toy that represented their friendship to do so, eventually causing Janis to snap and burn the toy with a Bunsen burner, which netted her a suspension and being labeled a pyromaniac.
  • The musical format means we get to hear every character's inner thoughts via song rather than just Cady's via voiceover like in the original, giving more sympathy to Gretchen and especially Regina.
• Adapted Out: Cady's father and Regina's little sister do not appear and are not even mentioned. The songs "Where Do You Belong?" and "Meet the Plastics" are also omitted.
• Africa Is a Country: Averted, unlike the original film; here, Cady specifically grew up in Kenya, rather than "Africa" being used as a generic term.
• Age Lift: Mr. Duvall is much older than he was in the original film, where he said he had been an educator for 14 years. In this version, he has been teaching for 31 years. He also mentions that he's on the cusp of retirement during the Spring Fling.
• The Artifact:
  • The name 'Gretchen Wieners' seemed to fit a white Jewish girl as Gretchen was in the 2004 film^note (neither part of the name is explicitly Jewish but they are both of German/Central European origin, which makes sense for a character who is presumably of European Jewish descent) more than the 2024 version of the character, who is Latina (and if she is still Jewish it is never mentioned onscreen).
  • To avoid using a prop car onstage, the original musical had Damian and Janis ride to Cady's party on a scooter. This gag is carried over to the film adaptation, even though they could've easily driven a car like in the 2004 film (though to be fair, the scooter is much funnier).
• Asian Airhead: The famously dumb Karen is played by a South Asian girl in this version, thus invoking this trope in full force.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: A lot of the musical numbers change to a 21:9 format, as opposed to the regular 16:9 ratio.
• Bathroom Control: One of the oddities of the American high school system is that one can't use the restroom without the restroom pass, and when Cady asks for said pass (which is in the shape of a sperm whale), Coach Carr immediately declines.
• Book Ends: The film opens with Janis and Damian singing "A Cautionary Tale" in a garage. At the end, they return to the garage to close out the story.
• Bowdlerise:
  • For obvious reasons, Regina no longer calls Janis a "dyke". Instead, she is called a "pyro lez", in reference to an incident where Janis set Regina's toy ablaze out of revenge.
  • Some of the more offensive lyrics from the Broadway musical have been replaced:
    • Regina's line in "Meet the Plastics", "I never weigh more than one fifteen", was replaced by "That filter you use looks just like me".
    • "Rosa Parks" was replaced by "Joan of Arc" in "Sexy".
    • In the original "Stupid with Love", Cady mentions falling for a Kenyan boy only to be rejected, and has the joke, "And being Kenyan, he ran fast". However, this was cut from the movie's version.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Damian and Janis act as narrators like in the stage version, and directly address the audience at certain points of the story.
  • During the apology exercise, one girl apologizes to her friend for saying they dragged during "Revenge Party", and comments on how they were just moving the story along. Mr. Duvall has no idea what she's talking about, but Ms. Norbury just tells him to not worry about it.
• Brick Joke: The emotional girl during the trust fall apology scene is back, this time explained to be a visiting track runner. She's ushered away by Ms. Norbury. She later appears at the Spring Fling, singing "I See Stars". Damian lampshades that she still doesn't go here (though he does think she has a great voice)!
• Casting Gag:
  • Twofer example. Not only was Ashley Park in the original play, but she also portrays the French teacher.
  • Lindsay Lohan appears as the Math Bowl moderator and even says that the score has only been tied once before.
• Celebrity Cameo: Megan Thee Stallion appears in some of the social media montages as herself. She also contributes to the soundtrack with the Movie Bonus Song "Not My Fault".
• Company Cross References:
  • Early in the movie, a badly drawn picture of Gary the Snail can be seen on a class board.
  • During the talent show, Damian sings the iCarly theme in French. Both this film and that series are properties of Paramount.
  • While everyone is posting memes about the talent show, one person uses a brief clip from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which, as a Nickelodeon property, is also a Paramount property.
  • Similar to the above, Damian uses a Dora doll to represent Janis during his story to Cady over why Janis hates Regina.
• Darker and Edgier: In "A Cautionary Tale", Janis tries to make the story they're telling this by claiming people died. Damian immediately shoots her down and says no one died.
• Demoted to Extra: Regina's Dad and Shane Oman were already minor characters in the original film but they are even more minor here; the former has a blink and miss it cameo and the latter, who had several lines in the original, is little more than an extra.
• Disappeared Dad: Cady's dad is nowhere to be seen, and is never mentioned. Averted with Regina's dad, who makes a small appearance, while his wife shamelessly flirts with her daughter's date.
• The Dog Bites Back: At the Spring Fling, after her two-timing boyfriend Jason mistakes her for another girl and flirts with her, Gretchen angrily unloads on him in an epic speech where she overcomes her self-esteem issues and lists all of the things she likes about herself, finishing by triumphantly declaring herself "fetch".
• Empathic Environment: When Regina first marches into the cafeteria, the lights begin to flicker ominously as the student body panics. Many of her songs evoke this effect.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: During the gymnasium scene, one girl apologizes to her friend for accusing her of dragging during "Revenge Party", citing the motivation to move the plot along. Mr. Duvall starts to ask but Ms. Norbury dismisses it, telling him not to worry.
• Funny Background Event: During "Apex Predator", the marquee behind Janis and Damian reads "Welcome Senior ass".
• Hazy-Feel Turn: At the Spring Fling, Regina, now in a neck brace and seemingly humbled by her injuries, reconciles with Cady and publicly refutes the rumor that Cady pushed her in front of a bus, and even seems to make peace with Janis during the dance. That said, Regina herself attributes the attitude change to the large number of painkillers she's taking, so whether she would fall back into her old habits after recovering is left up in the air, since The Stinger shows her and Karen about to give someone a makeover saying they can be really hot by changing everything about them.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Regina is first introduced wearing a black leather jacket.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Janice and Damian find that he is listed as "too gay to function" in the "Burn Book" and realize that only Cady could have written it.
• Instant Humiliation: Just Add TikTok!: Social media plays a much larger part in this version, with characters often posting on TikTok and reactions to major events are seen through the eyes of the Internet.
• Kinder and Cleaner: Several of the 2004 film's more controversial moments are scrubbed for the 2024 film. Lines are changed to remove uses of "slut", "whore", "retard", "social suicide", and the N-word. The minor subplot of Coach Carr's predatory relationship with two students is removed, and the plotlines around Janis's sexual orientation and Regina's weight gain are recontextualized to fit a more LGBTQ-friendly, body-positive time.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • "Fetch" is said to be something Gretchen picked up from "an old movie." She can't remember which one, though...
  • During the scene where all the girls apologize to one another, one girl apologizes to another student for saying they were dragging during the "Revenge Party" number.
  • The Math Bowl moderator (played by Linsday Lohan) mentions that it's only come down to a tie once before.
• Left the Background Music On: At one point during a Mood Whiplash, Janis demands for the music to stop, revealing it being played by a group of musicians in the trees above them.
• Logo Joke: The Paramount logo is rendered in a punkish, magazine cutout style against a pink background in the trailer (with the Paramount logo being the one used for Paramount+ and the parent company instead of their long-standing print logo).
• Movie Bonus Song:
  • "What Ifs" is a new song for Cady, replacing "It Roars" from the stage production.
  • The iCarly theme, even if it isn't listed in the credits.
  • "Not My Fault", performed by Reneé Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion, plays over the credits.
• Musicalis Interruptus:
  • Cady's "What Ifs" is cut off by her being bumped into by someone, who gives her a "move, bitch."
  • As Ms. Norbury prepares to talk during the gymnasium scene, she starts off with a melodic "Well..." before clearing her throat and speaking normally.^note For anyone wondering about Tina Fey's singing ability, please see Muppets Most Wanted, specifically this song.
• Musical Nod: The melody of What Ifs is taken from a motif that plays in the 2004 film when Cady eats lunch alone in the toilets.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Mr. Duvall's Carpal Tunnel doesn't come up in dialogue but he's seen with a right hand support brace for much of the film.
  • While it doesn't appear in its intended scene, Regina's purple nipple dress from the original cameos briefly during the Halloween costume montage.
  • When Cady starts handing out the broken crown pieces, a drugged-up Regina fails to catch the one Cady tosses her way, dropping it the same way Karen dropped a football in her Establishing Character Moment from the original movie.
  • Ashley Park's plays the French teacher who gladly joins into the wet look fad, a reference to the fact that Park's Gretchen on stage very much followed Regina George.
  • Mr. Duvall has a photo of his younger self hanging in his office; it's a picture of Tim Meadows in the original film.
  • As Norbury prepares to sing during the gym scene (before giving up after the first word), the song "Where Do You Belong?" begins to play.
  • Regina tells Cady to "Get in, loser" as they head to her house after school. This is a famous line from the 2004 version that was cut from the musical.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The first full trailer didn't give so much as a hint that the film was going to be a musical. In fact, most of the advertising doesn't mention that this is The Film of the Play and not a straight remake, with promos simply referring to it as "a new twist from Tina Fey". The few hints were a musical note in the film’s logo, and Regina starting to sing.
• The Oner:
  • The entire second half of "Sexy" is a single long shot from the cut back to Regina until Karen's "I'm a sexy mouse, duh."
  • "I'd Rather Be Me" is a continuous shot from the second verse to the end.
• Race Lift:
  • In the original film, Karen was a white blonde girl with the surname Smith. Here, she is named Karen Shetty and played by Telugu-American actress Avantika Vandanapu.
  • Mixed-race Auli'i Cravalho (who is of Kānaka Maoli, Chinese, Puerto Rican, and white descent) plays Janis. The original was named Janis Ian and in this version, she's called Janis 'Imi'ike.^note This one is a strange, complicated example because the original Janis is played by the white Jewish actress Lizzy Caplan. But according to a joke in the final act of the film, Janis is of Lebanese/Middle Eastern descent and that's why Kevin G — who says he does not go for white women — flirts with Janis.
  • Damian in the 2004 film was a white guy. Here, he's Black.
  • Gretchen was Jewish and played by a Cajun actress in the original film, played by an East Asian actress on Broadway, and is now a White Latina in this film.
• Rearrange the Song: Several songs from the stage production have been given substantial new arrangements:
  • "Meet the Plastics" has been shortened from the show, and now only includes the Regina segment. Gretchen and Karen are instead introduced through dialogue, in a similar fashion as the 2004 film.
  • "Stupid with Love" now more closely resembles a show choir number with acapella vocals and minimalistic instrumentation.
  • "Apex Predator" has an African-inspired hip hop flourish to it, reflecting the themes of the song, whereas the original was more rock-ish. Damian is given Cady's verses.
• Reimagining the Artifact: Because of the Setting Update, the Burn Book is mentioned as something the Plastics created "that week they took away our phones." Likewise, Regina no longer makes photocopies of it, but simply leaves the book itself in a hallway to be spread on social media. Tina Fey said she thought about making it no longer a book at all, but her daughters convinced her not to.
• Remake Cameo:
  • Ashley Park, who originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the stage musical, cameos as a French teacher.
  • Lindsay Lohan appears as the moderator of the math bowl.
• Setting Update: The plot is set in The New '20s, incorporating social media, with characters shown making TikTok videos about the events of the film.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: After Cady takes over the Plastics, the other two (Sans Regina) briefly shift their wardrobes from pink to blue, signifying the change in power.
• Villain Song: As in the stage production, "Meet the Plastics", "Someone Gets Hurt" and "World Burn" are this for Regina.

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Regina George: You're next. You could be really hot if you change, like, everything.