This year marks the 20th anniversary of “Mean Girls,” the cult Mark Waters film that taught us to wear pink on Wednesdays (which was followed by a couple at the press screening) and that high school society is based on unjust principles. The film was also made into a Broadway musical six years ago, and this year the filmed version of the musical arrived, directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez. Although, as an Eastern European, it was already difficult to relate to the high school atmosphere of the original film, it was a more familiar situation for everyone, how beautiful, blonde, spoiled girls caused anxiety to their peers standing outside the line, wearing neither makeup nor branded cakes. exactly .
The story of Bad Girls begins when the parents of Cady (Anjorie Rice), a private student in Kenya, enroll her in a high school in Chicago where there is a so-called… Plastic They are at the top of the school community. For example, whether someone is considered a cool girl or a loser depends on how much they like plastics. If someone falls into the latter category, they can eat their lunch in the restroom instead of the dining room. The head of the plastic surgery department is Regina George (Renee Rapp), of course she has a best friend at school, and besides her important qualities she counts the calories in her lunch, and considers her friends (Avantika Vandanapu, Baby Wood) more like trailers than soulmates. Upon entering this environment, Cady, with the encouragement of her friends, becomes a double agent with the goal of destroying Regina's reputation and seducing Regina's ex-lover.
So there is a story that tells about high school humiliations and their impact on character development as well as showing love crises in teenagers. Mark Waters' 2004 film tackled the subject with light dialogue and sharp humor, and felt Rosalind Wiseman's screenplay was based on it. Queen bees and wannabes He presented his book on ostracism and abuse in schools.
A new musical could have given this basic story modern elements, but instead we get only a superficial remake, where Generation Z is simply presented as naive.
However, just like the 2004 version, the script for the current film was written by Tina Fey, who also plays one of the teachers in the remake. Unfortunately, his presence didn't help the current film's awkward character portrayal either.
The new film's main character, Angourie Rice, known from the Spider-Man films, paints Cady dimly, but at least she plausibly portrays the sanctity of the special student who has returned from Africa and wants to throw herself into the world. From the Red House parties. The viewer's attention soon turns to Regina George (Renee Rapp), who enters as a queen bee and freezes the cafeteria air, singing in a droning voice that she is the most beautiful Venom they have ever seen.
Renee Rapp's singing voice, which also appeared in the stage version of Bad Girls and is known from the series The Sexual Life of College Girls, is the best of the cast, but that doesn't make it forgivable how shabby Regina George's performance is. shine on. One reason for this is that the costumes in the remake are also unimaginative, for example, Regina George wore more extravagant fast fashion clothes. But not only because of the clothes that Rap does not follow in the footsteps of Rachel McAdams in the original film: the gimmicks and ramblings during the songs make her simply an obnoxious character, thanks to which it is not at all understandable how she became the princess of duty in high school.
However, Renee Rapp's film role was actually preceded by her fame on TikTok, where she resides For a bisexual princess They shouted to whom Straight girls also leave their boys. The film is central, and it co-stars Megan Thee Stallion. And also his song It's Not My Fault He indicates this with a character-defining line: “It's not my fault that you love me.” Everyone wants her, and those close to her are honored to live their humble lives next to her – this is what characterizes Regina George's way of thinking, but unfortunately Renee Rapp does not convey this character authentically at all.
In the remake, Tina Fey also wanted to show the influence of social media on the high school setting, but we know nothing about this except for the fact that the characters use TikTok. However, an important aspect of the film would have been how anonymous profiles made the path to bullying in schools easier. Compared to twenty years ago, the more pressing question now is how people like Regina George make other people's lives miserable by hiding behind fake profiles.
The creators not only remembered the original version of the film with recurring dialogues, because Lindsay Lohan, who appeared in the original film, also got a cameo. Jon Hamm also appears in the film, but his character doesn't get much focus other than making insulting comments as a coach.
Bad Girls of 2024 thus becomes nothing more than an unpleasant film with weak conflict songs and forgettable characters. If we want to remember the anxiety that plastic girls can cause in schools, we recommend the 2004 edition.
