Mean Girls review – the musical movie is as mean as mean can be

For any mathletes out there, the “mean” is the average – equally far from two extremes. Funnily enough, that definition is the perfect way to describe this new musical movie – never likely to gain the cult status of its progenitor, but also far from an unsuccessful waste of time. It whelms – by and large entertaining, but unlikely to set the world on fire.

Based on the 2017 Broadway stage show, which in itself is based on the 2004 cult classic flick (with that film based on a book, Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman), the hardest task for the film is to prove its existence – why reinvent the wheel when so many consider the early ’00s iteration unimproveable?

Mercifully, first-time directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr make a strong case. Pitched almost halfway between the original and Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” music video, the 112 minute-movie is fresh, kinetic and fun – aesthetically very different to the original, swapping early millennial bubblegum straightforwardness for social media-fuelled Gen Z anarchy. The musical numbers themselves, largely lifted from the stage show (some new tunes have been penned for the film), help freshen things up, allowing the directors to add novelty and unexpected moments for those familiar with the original (a case in point being the trance rave that now seems to take place during a Halloween party).

The plot is well trodden ground for the hundreds of millions who have seen the original: a high schooler, Cady Heron, relocates from Kenya to the feral world of modern-day high school, where she encounters an elite, deeply unpleasant series of queen bees known as the Plastics. Tina Fey, returning to produce, star and pen the script (she doesn’t sing, which provides an excellently meta moment) revels in layering on the additional savagery of social media – every social faux pas and blunder is fodder for TikToks, Insta Lives and Snapchats – school antics are fuel for algorithmic angst. It’s great work, though if one joke lands with aplomb, two or three meander along without an easy punchline.

Cast performance-wise, there’s a clear and strong desire to push away from the immortalised 2004 turns of Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Lindsay Lohan – everything here feels distinct and novel. Renée Rapp’s apex predator and leader of the pack Regina George is sultry, severe yet never outright despicable – an antagonist that captivates. Her performances in “Someone Gets Hurt” and “World Burn” are gripping, shot like over-saturated melodramas of operatic verve. Bebe Wood and Avantika Vandanapu as her two lackeys Gretchen and Karen get their own comedic moments to shine, with Vandanapu’s work alongside choreographer Kyle Hanagami on “Sexy” also resulting in a rollercoaster musical number that brings early house party scenes to life.

Sacrilige, perhaps, but Angourie Rice’s Cady feels more compelling than Lohan’s did back in 2004 – as the film draws on she seems to feed off Regina’s uncaring obnoxiousness, and Rice is unafraid to become oftentimes intensely unlikeable. It’s an ambitious decision, but means the filmmakers to foreground other characters like Auliʻi Cravalho’s Janis, Cady’s new friend who schemes to get back at Regina for a past spat, who has a blast tearing through the school in a single-shot “I’d Rather Be Me”. Jaquel Spivey as Damian, part meta-narrator and another of Cady’s friends, puts in a star-making appearance, while excellent cameos come from the likes of Jon Hamm, Tim Meadows and Broadway show alumni like Ashley Park and Grey Henson.

Despite some heroic efforts, it’s unlikely the film will step out of the 20-year-old shadow cast by its predecessor. Every time a 2004 line pops up (nods to “fetch”, big hair and being too gay to function spring to mind), they serve as a reminder of just how, in its own way, that film was a mould-breaking release. This, on the other hand, gives a small whiff of gourmet food reheated in a microwave – still tasty, but not as rewarding.

That said, what it does do is kindle some form of excitement for the stage show’s imminent West End run at the Savoy Theatre. Seeing UK stars tackle the likes of “World Burn” or “Revenge Party” will be a bona fide hoot.

Mean Girls is released in cinemas next Wednesday, 17 January, with the stage production opening this summer