I was in high school when the first Mean Girls was released in theaters. Like most of those who shared my interests at the time, I didn’t see it. I just had no desire to, even though I liked both Tina Fey and Tim Meadows from Saturday Night Live. Over the years I have heard various quotes from the movie – and did see bits and pieces of it one time while my wife was watching it, because she really enjoys the original film. Flash forward a few years and I had no idea there was a musical that was on Broadway. Now they have taken that musical and made a film adaptation of it. Enter the new Mean Girls and my first experience with the students and teachers of North Shore High School.

As I stated earlier, I have had little to no experience with the original movie, so my wife was surprised when I told her I was interested in seeing the new film. I did some research on it and I thought to myself “This movie is only 20 years old, why would they reboot it already?” I dug a little deeper and saw it was the film adaptation of the musical, and Tina Fey wrote all three projects. Now, I know what you are thinking: “Ugh, another musical movie,” (looking at you Cats!) but I have to say that I was very surprised with Mean Girls and ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

For those of you wondering what the movie is about, it’s quite a simple premise. A high schooler named Cady Heron moves back to the United States from Kenya with her mom. There she meets her homeroom/AP calculus teacher Ms. Norbury, she also meets her new friends Janis ‘Imi’ike and Damian Hubbard. Janis and Damian are actually the narrators of the movie and break the 4th wall quite a bit, which definitely adds not only a lot of humor but a lot of heart to the story. They take Cady around and show her the ins and outs of the various high school cliques: Jocks, Nerds, Theater Kids, Band Geeks, Art Students and the Plastics: the three most popular girls in the school. Cady is noticed by Gretchen, Karen, and of course Regina George. They decide that since she is the new girl, they will take her under their wings and show her how to survive the jungle that is High School. As you can imagine, things don’t go the way they’re planned and people may or may not get hit by buses. Honestly, you all need to see this for yourselves because if you haven’t seen the original or the musical, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

With a script written by Tina Fey, directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. deliver an experience that will make you laugh, cry and want to sing at the top of your lungs. It’s not all music all the time, there are a lot of moments that allow each cast member to deliver fantastic comedic and sometimes dramatic performances. Angourie Rice is perfect as Cady and a lot of us who might have been nerds in high school can see ourselves in her. Renee Rapp as Regina George delivers a performance that will make you love to hate her character. As for the other two members of the Plastics, Bebe Wood is fantastic as Gretchen Wieners, and you see her struggling with who she is when she is around Regina as well as when she is with the other students. You also have Avantika as Karen Shetty who isn’t the smartest in the group and ends up singing a song about “Sexy Halloween.” But I have to say that the real standouts in the movie are Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey as Janis and Damian. They are absolutely fantastic and deliver most of the songs in the movie, but they are also the heart of the movie. You get to experience a roller coaster of emotions as you see their story play out on the screen, and honestly I feel like I could have just watched more of them with Cady. All of these are also examples of what makes Tina Fey a fantastic writer and storyteller.

Let’s talk about the music real quick. Nell Benjamin does a fantastic job in transporting us all back to our high school days and tapping into what it was like to navigate a “social minefield.” I won’t get into any of the songs here because a lot of them are spoilery, but they are amazing and the singing performances from the characters are absolutely top-notch. I honestly can’t say anything bad about the songs and the lyrics. They all fit for the characters and the situations they are in.

I think my only negative about the movie is that I wish we could have spent some time with the characters that are in the school faculty. I loved Tina Fey, Tim Meadows and Jon Hamm in their roles, and I just wanted more. I understand that this is about the students in the school, but Tina Fey does a great job of showing that the faculty and staff of the school have lives outside of it and that should have been explored more. I would have been ok with a longer runtime if it meant I got to spend more time with them. Plus, who doesn’t love Tim Meadows or Jon Hamm?

I really had a lot of fun with this movie and ultimately I really enjoyed it. Yes, I know I am going to have to go back and watch the first movie all the way through and I’ll probably end up comparing both of these versions but that is an issue for another time.

I give Mean Girls 4.5 Whale Hallpasses Out of 5

Once again I would like to thank the amazing people over at Allied Marketing for inviting us to the screening.