Following in the quicksteps of The Producers, Hairspray, and Heathers, Mean Girls gets the film to musical to musical film treatment. But whereas there was a sense of the cult gate-crashing the mainstream to its predecessors, the 2004 vintage Mean Girls was widely beloved from its release. This makes the musical treatment a trickier prospect; it’s an already iconic property with indelible performances. Unfortunately, Mean Girls mk.2 feels like a slightly sanitised take on the material. It is also, apart from one notable exception, lacking in truly memorable songs.

Angourie Rice steps into the Lindsay Lohan role as Cady Heron setting foot in high school for the first time having previously been home schooled in Kenya. She’s taken under the wing of misfit duo Janis and Damian (Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey). They warn her about the infamous ‘Plastics’, the mean girls of the title. The Plastics are led by the glossily dictatorial Regina George (Renée Rapp), who, for obscure reasons, invites Cady to join their clique. Janis and Damian see this as a chance to infiltrate the enemy, but the thoughtful, bookish Cady begins to enjoy the popularity.

The story remains the same, with added Broadway pizazz and generational overhaul to reflect the Gen Z experience. Janis and Damian introduce proceedings with ‘A Cautionary Tale’, which encompasses a garage, the plains of Kenya, and the battleground of North Shore school itself in a series of seamless transitions. It’s a strong start, but the rest begins to take on a schematic feel with the songs filling the spaces where actual character development should be.

That’s not to say that there isn’t anything to enjoy. The original is dated in places in terms of racial stereotyping, and the diversification of the casting here is achieved smoothly. Cravalho and Spivey in particular are brilliantly cast and their pairing is one of the highlights, even if Damian gets slightly sidelined later as Janis’ history with Regina comes to the surface. Renée Rapp is exceptional as Regina, matching – and perhaps surpassing – Rachel McAdams original. There’s something about Rapp that commands the screen in a way that makes her character’s dominance over the school feel true and this is surely a star-making performance. Also great is Avantika Vantanapu as Karen, whose vapidity no longer seems so quite far-fetched given the prevalence of influencer culture. Her standout moment – ‘Sexy’ – is a great addition and easily the funniest and most memorable song.

With some great additions, it’s sad that so much feels redundant. Much of the original’s snarky edge has been sanded down, and both time and two decades of imitators have lessened the impact so it feels like just another high school musical. The TikTok inserts and reaction videos also give the sense of trends being followed rather than set. Rice’s Cady is also slightly lost among the hubbub. As an ensemble the cast ensure that the shadows of the earlier incarnations of their characters don’t loom too large, but Cady’s central journey drifts from focus. The love triangle between her, Regina and Christopher Briney‘s Aaron is far less interesting than Janis and Regina’s long-standing hatred.

With its heart so firmly in the right place it would be no bad thing if a whole new generation of viewers embraced Mean Girls, it just lacks the vivid impact of the original. See it for Cravalho and Rapp before they go stratospheric, but leave nostalgia at the door as this incarnation is a different experience.

In cinemas nationwide from Fri 19 Jan 2024