On January 12th, 2024, the remake of the Mean Girls movie (2004), combined with actors and script from the Broadway musical version, came out in theaters. Lets summarize the Mean Girls Movie remake and look into how this movie remake is similar and different from the original Mean Girls movie in 2004!
The Mean Girls Movie (2024) was made to give a modern take on the original Mean Girls Movie. The movie starts with protagonist Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) coming to a new school after being homeschooled her whole life previously. Cady instantly joins the top of the food chain, when the “mean girls”, Regina George (Reneé Rapp), Karen Shetty (Avantika Vandanapu), and Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood), the popular group who never lets anyone in with them, invites Cady to sit with them at lunch. Cady also makes friends with Janis Sarkisian (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (Jaquel Spivey), two artsy outcasts that hate Regina George and the Mean Girls because of a rumor Regina made about Janice when they stopped being friends. Throughout the rising action, Janice, Cady, and Damian work together to “take Regina down,” by doing small things like giving her foot cream instead of face cream, giving her bars and saying they were for weight loss when in reality it had the opposite affect, and more. Once Cady has successfully taken down Regina, she does not stop acting mean and becomes the main mean girl like Regina once was, gets the guy she wants that is Regina’s ex, and even looses her friendship with Damien and Janice. While being at an all time high but also low at the same time, Cady gets accused of a criminal act against Regina, making her loose a lot of her followers, and Regina gains some of her power back. At the end of the story Cady teaches us an important lesson on coming together despite their differences. The movie overall is funny, uplifting, and classic!
However, there are many differences and similarities between the original Mean Girls Movie and this new remake. So, lets dive into some of the bigger differences!
First, the remake is not fully a musical, however it is partially, whereas the original was not. Second, the remake being filmed in this time period is much different than in the original. The remake includes things like TikTok, which did not even exist when the original movie came out. With that, the climate of the remake is also different. The cast of the remake consists of a mixture of different races, sexualities, etc. This differs from the original movie, because the majority of the cast was white and straight, other than Damien who was “too gay to function.” The last big difference, was that Cady only lives with her mother in the remake. While this may seem like a minor detail, it represents many families with one parental figure, which is much more common nowadays, especially those with only a mother figure. Overall, the main difference was the inclusion, representation, and musical qualities of the remake.
Now, lets look at a couple of the main similarities in the original movie verses the remake.
First, while there are changes in the plot to make it more relevant, politically correct, and different, the overall plot of the remake is still mostly the same. Second, the lessons of both movies are the same and they both have almost the same ending, which tells part of the main lesson. Lastly, the first names of the characters and the characters themselves were all included and not removed from the original, and even some of the characters were played by the same actors. Overall, the main similarities in the remake verses the original was the plot, ending, lesson, and characters.
In conclusion, if you want to watch a movie that is not too intense but is funny and eventful, you should watch the Mean Girls Movie 2024 remake!
