MEAN GIRLS (2024) Movie Review **SPOILER ALERT**

[Music] that's Nick and that's Joseph and today we're here to talk about Mean Girls the musical version of the 2004 hit film uh which is directed by Samantha Jane and Arturo Perez junor is being released courtesy of Paramount on January 12th 2024 you said director debut no well Samantha Jan's directorial debut uh who she's worked with Aro Perez Jr before on several shorts he has also directed a couple documentaries including where have all the flowers gone in McCartney Grand Central Katie Heron is a hit with the Plastics an A-list girl click at her new school when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels the ex-boyfriend of alpha plastic Regina George we we have a patreon episode review about the 2004 film yes which we just watched like two weeks ago mhm what's your pull quote for this film sweet and entertaining it's unclear what the overall point is of revisiting Mean Girls as a musical it's really just saying and though the faces may have Chang the hassles are just the same oh shout out to Strangers With Candy minee surprisingly This Modern update does not stray far from the 2004 film which is not a bad thing I thought this movie was cute mhm it but comparing the two it's like a lot hasn't changed I guess has it we still think that women aren't good at math uh kids are still really shitty to one another Well perfect segue I wanted to start with what's different about the 2024 movie versus the 2004 movie there's music number one it's a musical um so I was reading about that because I'm not familiar with the musical um but part of a lot of the differences relate to having to accommodate the addition of some songs mhm we'll get to the songs a little bit later but some of the things that are different Katie's father is not in the picture mhm so it appears that her mother played by Jenna Fisher is a single mom we used should know from the office yep in slyther oh slyther I think she used did she used to be married to James gun oh there's a story behind why she's in that movie uh Janice we don't see her work working in this film no no cuz in the 2004 film we're at Janice's job like three times that's where we get the face cream to give herina that's not in this film uh also in this film Janice is a lesbian yes which I think is kind of funny cuz she's upset she's being called a pyro Les but but you are girl you are but before you're ready to tell the world sure of course coach Carr isn't sexually assaulting students in this film this time it's John Ham it's just John Ham being a weirdo mhm uh we don't see Tina fe's character working a second job mhm uh Tina Fe and Tim medals are a couple in this movie which was cute and they both look great they do yeah and then a lot of the language has changed I was reading an article Tina feay was asked about like how like what kind of changes she made and she specifically talked about how they're not using words like [ __ ] [ __ ] and [ __ ] because in modern day that doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as it was another example is in the burn book in the 2004 film one girl is referred to as a fat virgin and in this film that same girl is now being called a horny shrimp so little changes to the language were made little changes but overall it feels having just watched the 2004 film like I was surprised at how much stayed the same oh yeah uh you know do I want to use the word iconic but memorable lines uh that are lifted straight all of those are in this movie yeah except for boo you [ __ ] right so let's talk about the music I was so I think it's forgettable but I was reading that 14 songs were cut from the musical when figuring out what to put in this movie so I'm thinking like damn what were those songs like if these were the ones we got like I didn't hate the music I I think a lot of it's forgettable like off the top of my head gret and we song is just you you could have cut 15 songs uh but there were a couple that I liked or at least the lyrical content of let me tell the story I got ahead of myself so for people who don't know uh the main character Katie she has never been to high school because she's always been homeschooled and for the past x amount of years she's been living in Kenya Africa so her joining this new school as a junior is like an entirely new world and immediately she makes a couple of friends two Misfits named Janice and Daman mhm Janice is the Pyro Lees and Daman is uh two G of function MH but very quickly she is taken in by the Plastics these three Popular Girls Regina George Gretchen weiners and Karen mhm whatever Karen's the dumb one in this movie it's not really made clear that Gretchen is the rich one and then Regina is like the most popular one she's like the alpha mhm and they are trying to change Katie like make her more like them but where things take a turn is Katie has a crush on Aaron Samuel's Regina's ex-boyfriend and Regina doesn't like that so she makes sure to show Katie that by kissing him in front of her so Katie gets upset so now her with the help of her two misit Misfit friends try to destroy Regina but it backfires because Regina gets mad and they have this thing called a burn book that they've been filling out since they were in grade school I guess where they're talking bad about all the other students in school and Regina takes it to school it's that's different from the 2004 film in the 2004 film Regina makes a bunch of copies of the book and like throws it all around the school and turns it in herself and turns in herself in this movie she just takes the book and puts it on the ground because in this film now we have social media so she's Trust ing that someone's going to grab it and they're going to start taking pictures and posting it online and they do so this all leads to an assembly where all the junior girls have to basically work it out and they express their grievances in the process Regina gets mad runs away from Katie and Regina gets hit by a bus but the final scene is the school prom and we find out that Katie has won prom queen and Mathletics and Mathletics which we can get to cuz there's an important cameo in that scene but part of Katie's acceptance speech is that I think I won because y'all think I push Regina in front of that bus so this is not ideal but she uses that time to basically give a really nice message about how we need to be nicer to one another and then it's all Kumbaya the end but we should talk about the Cameo then and we don't get a uh snippet of the upand cominging Plastics we don't get that final scene no but they kind of incorporate it into the prom because then we show like oh the the cheerleaders are dancing with the Nerds and the jocks are dancing with the theater kids so but yeah we don't get the new version of the Plastics which I guess is hopeful sure but yes there's a major spoiler so the Mathletics which is because we know Katie is good at math and Katie's responsible for accusing Tina Face's character of selling drugs so part of Katie's punishment is that Tina face says you need to join uh Mathletics well extra credit cuz she's been purp failing yeah so they go and they win but the the officient of the Mathletics is Lindsay loen oh my God which I always like seeing her yeah she looks great uh got it it'd be nice to see her have a decent comeback that's not a cruddy Christmas movie I think it's funny that they chose that for her cam when you know it's been 20 years since the first film Technically she's old enough to have a 15 16year old she could be she could have been the mom I kind of wanted her to be Katie's mom but you know but I was also reading that Tina Fay wanted all the originals to be in the film in some capacity but schedules didn't allow so they did what they could so I'm grateful for that I guess and um is that how we're explaining Rachel mcadam's absence oh I mean that's just what I read okay I only have a few notes I think the funniest line in this movie which is new is when we first see Katie go to school her first teacher I think is like a creative writing teacher and his name is Mr rap and he is like rapping and he keeps saying my name is Mr rap and I take no and of course he wants all the students to say crap and he keeps saying it and no one's participating and finally when he says my name is Mr rap and I take no a student yells out care of yourself I thought that was so funny I laughed all night I was laughing all day today thinking I thought another good scene was um at the assembly when there's the same line about the girl with the WID set vagina and Tim Meadows turns it over to Tina Fay to school these girls and she's about to break out into song and her voice cracks and she's like you know what it reminded me of on drag race when Monae exchange was going to do like a sham and then she just says I'm not going to do it that's how it felt another funny scene to me is we're told that in honor of international women's day the cafeteria is going to be serving vegan confident Jo-Ann's instead of Sloppy Joe's yeah there were there were a few nice uh additional touches from Tina from Tina fe's screenplay some more things I liked the actor playing Damian oh yeah uh jaquel Spivy who's Tony nominated for starring as uh an usher in the Broadway play a strange loop I really liked him and I think I liked him better than Daniel franzii in the role to be fair he's had a lot more experience I think than Mr frany had at that time but well because if you listen to our patreon I thought that Daniel Fran's acting in the 2004 film was a little stiff so like you said this man has more I think chops but yeah I really preferred him MH um the Plastics so what did you think of these girls compared to the originals I think as a core we discussed this and I think you agree that the the trio are really good and better in the first one but um I really did like Renee rap as uh Regina oh I I really I don't know who this lady is but I really liked her I loved how she looked her voice is amazing her attitude and she's really singing that song with Megan estallion not credits yeah I really really liked her voice and the songs that I do recall from the film somewhat not the ly lyrics but the vibe her voice and the vibe of those songs reminded me of Billy eyh sure yeah I really liked her the the young lady playing Karen is beautiful and I think she's good at pretending to be stupid aanka is her name and we saw her in that film senior year with Rebel Wilson that one where she hit her head and woke up 20 years later oh wow I haven't thought about that but yeah what a fantastic name as well but I liked her little Halloween song her Halloween song is cute the Coro is pretty fun well and that her dance break in that song what cuz in our the book of Clarence review I criticized the dance break in that film I thought the dance break with this girl in Mean Girls is better than the dance break in the book of Clarence the only one so the young lady playing gret and wieners mhm uh BB wood who didn't love Victor Oh I thought she was sweet but I definitely preferred Lacy shabir mm from the first one sure I think Lacy's given more character ticks to work with yes cuz in the 2004 film Gretchen we can see her kind of snap like oh I'm going to get this [ __ ] in this film Gretchen seems more kind of sad that her friend doesn't appreciate her so it's not as fun I just kind of felt bad for her and then of course uh Angry rice from May of Eastown is playing Katie who you said I didn't care for in May of East Town you can go back and look at the review you all you did was complain about shabon well I mean I said what I said but in this movie I really liked her and and I might say I liked her better than Lindsay loen from the 2004 film because I thought she the the transition from her being a naive student to kind of taking on this Plastics mentality the transition was more drastic MH and actually I think the key scene that made me think that is the scene where Gretchen tells Regina you can't sit here and then they say well what does Katie think and Katie turns around and Crosses her legs and gives a look like rules are rules and I think that attitude is what I wanted from Lindsay loen in the first film sure yeah I think part of that ability though is that for that transition to happen is that uh almost all of these uh actors seem like actual high school students sure whereas in the 2004 Mean Girls version you know Rachel M Rachel McAdams was well beyond being in high school and and I think you can tell Al although I really liked her I did too but but I agree because Rachel McAdam seems like a woman pairing her with Lindsay loen just felt kind of odd MH but yeah in this one it feels more comparable and then Janice is played by Ali Calio uh who did the voice of Moana oh so a fabulous singer yeah I think I didn't I definitely prefer old Janis cuz old Janice seems emo and then her frustration about her friend doging her out and the fact that she's not a lesbian in this film it feels like well [ __ ] you did burn up her backpack and you are a lesbian so I mean I don't know that her calling you a pyro Les that bad and then she I like I just don't picture Janice belting out these Broadway musical type songs right and Janice has a song towards the end like during the assembly where all the girls apologize that I just didn't think fit that character I can agree with that but I did really like the lyrical content sentiment of that song cuz I agreed with a lot of what was saying I was I I also maybe thought that if Janice were to sing she would have more of like an edgy vibe to her yeah it's almost like the style of her song should have been completely different yes um but then and and then we're also forgetting amongst the adults there's Ashley Park from the film Joy Ride who is is she the French teacher that's right she's the French teacher I thought she was cute and and we talked about Busy Phillips uh but yeah I mean it's an impressive Ensemble oh uh Aaron played by Christopher Briney who you know from the film Dal land that's how I know him you know I he was fine I feel like that character I don't think that character had much to do in the first film either except just be the the object of of affection two people's desires but um I did like that he looked like a regular kid like he's not this hunky whatever he seems kind of gangly and he looks like d H to me like he could be his younger brother so I so I I liked that and then there's another uh Cameo oh who Megan the stallion oh so there's a point when at like at the point where Katie gets mad and she wants to start dogging Regina out we see that Regina is on the football field maybe like like oh I think it's probably when she was nominated for prom queen she's on the football field and they hit her with the sprinkler so now she's all wet and her makeup's running but of course Regina looks sexy and Fabulous so it goes viral and we see like a montage of people on social media talking about I think it's like hashtag Regina challenge where all these girls have wet hair and like smeared mascara and eyeliner and one of the people is making the stallion and then we get her again at the end and she says what she says how do I get this off my algorithm how do I get this girl off my algorithm which made me think of she has that line in Savage about if it ain't about the money then you know I'm going to ignore it so like why are you checking for it anyway I thought that was cute too cuz then Megan the Stellan featured in the end credit song M um I did enjoy this movie yeah I I again I think most our discussion afterwards is also a lot about who is this really for uh I guess I would say Elder Millennials which makes me think that it should have been maybe rated R and more edgy but you know if it's staying true to what it was and I think I mean this really is like a replica of the first film just with songs in it right so it it it almost just for the fan basee that's already established what would you give Mean Girls 2024 three I would give this film three out of five as well join us on patreon listen to our podcast bye

Channel: Fish Jelly Film Reviews

Views: 18,466

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Id: _Yx4dy4ThMU

Length: 17min 49sec (1069 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 11 2024