Mean Girls remake? – Isabella L
On October 3rd (wink, wink), Paramount picture announced they would be releasing ‘Mean Girls’ in January. No, not the iconic 2004 film starring Lindsey Lohan, but a remake of the Broadway musical, which it turn was inspired by the 2004 classic (It’s confusing. Think Matilda the musical- it’s pretty much the same idea). For avid fans, this isn’t news, as the film was first mentioned in media over 3 years ago! But for a casual watcher, such as myself, this is all relatively recent. I watched the trailer (released on the 8th) and I had to share my thoughts.
It looks really good; it had a similar vibe as the original. It wasn’t too Gen Z, with lots of awkward, incorrectly used slang that will make you cringe and yet somehow used references that made you believe the writers could have been teenagers. It genuinely did look like a good film and has convinced me to go see it when it comes out. While it’s been mainly good things online, there are a few questions people keep asking and I thought I’d give my opinion on them (it’s a habit at this point)
1. Where’s the music? The film is supposedly a musical, yet there’s not a note in the whole trailer. I’m not a massive fan films where the characters unexplainably burst into song, but I think if you’re going to make one at least be proud of it. It gives the impression that it’s either; A: got awful songs or B: trying to promote it otherwise to gain more audience. The latter I can understand; at the end of the day films are made to sell and if this is the way to do it, so be it (although surely just not making it a musical would be the better idea?). However, the former I don’t understand. If you’re shelling out that much, you might as well pick good writers and singers. UPDATE: On the 15th, Paramount took on board criticism that there was no singing and released a short clip of a Renee Rapp (who plays Regina George) singing. I mean short. It lasted all of 3 seconds, so my point still stands.
2. Will this be an exact remake? The trailer opens by saying this film is ‘not your mothers mean girls’, which suggests that it will different. But how different? It doesn’t seem like anything different happens, in fact some lines are EXACTLY the same as the original. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In my eyes, the original was so popular, why risk it? Not everyone agrees with this, though, with some saying this makes the film unnecessary and others saying it’ll just ruin a classic- if it isn’t broke don’t fix it.
3. Why are the teachers played by the same actors as the original? I see why people are asking this, haven’t they had their time to shine? Shouldn’t we give other people a chance. Personally, I love this detail. Obviously the teenagers in the movie can’t come back, but why not the teachers? This really hones in on the fact that this is still Mean Girls and it won’t turn out an abominable mess (we hope, Mean Girls 2 was dreadful).
Overall, there’s not much to complain about and, in my opinion, nothing that sparks serious red flags. I almost certainly will be watching this when it comes out and I am very excited to see if it lives up (or down) to people’s expectations.
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