Movie Review

Musical version of Mean Girls boasts breezy tunes and easy storyline

The cycle of non-musical movies being turned into Broadway musicals and then back again is a fascinating one for those who love both sides. Other attempts at the trifecta – including The Producers, Hairspray, and The Color Purple – have taken up to 40 years to make the journey; Mean Girls went from film in 2004, to musical in 2017, and now back to a movie musical in 2024. That's one of the shortest turnarounds on record.

$Avantika, Angourie Rice, Rene\u00e9 Rapp, and Bebe Wood in Mean Girls$

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Avantika, Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, and Bebe Wood in Mean Girls.

It’s easy to see why it’s been a success in each form, as the story is mostly light and breezy. Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is a new student at North Shore High School, one which – according to besties Janis (Auli’I Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) – is divided into cliques. At the top of the heap are the Plastics, a trio of rich girls led by Regina George (Reneé Rapp).

Cady, who quickly gets a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron (Christopher Briney), schemes with Janis and Damian to take Regina and her friends down a peg by infiltrating their group. But the more Cady hangs out with them, the more she starts to take on their traits, and it’s not long before Cady loses the sense of the person she was, and the person she wants to be.

Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., and written by Tina Fey (who’s written all three versions), the film is easy to like if you don’t overanalyze it. There are few major changes from either the original film or the stage musical, with all of the characters following roughly the same arcs. Many personality traits are heightened for comedic effect, giving any potential emotional connection a backseat in lieu of comic set pieces.

The focus is mainly on Cady’s interactions with the Plastics, but the best pairing on screen is Janis and Damian. The artistic duo, both of whom happen to be gay, are a delight every time they’re on screen not just because of their outsized personalities, but because they – and Cady for most of the film – seem to be the only genuine characters in the whole film.

If you didn’t know the musical’s songs prior to viewing, this version probably won’t have you humming them on the way home. The staging is mostly unmemorable save for the opening “A Cautionary Tale” and Regina’s big showcase in “Meet the Plastics.” Rice is clearly not a Broadway caliber singer, and you might find yourself straining to hear her soft tones in her handful of solo performances.

What ultimately makes the movie a fun one to watch is the actors. Rice has been on the rise in recent years, appearing in the newest Spider-Mantrilogy and HBO series Mare of Easttown, and she has the perfect demeanor to play both sides of this role. Cravalho (the erstwhile voice of Moana) and Spivey are magic together, turning their side characters into the heart of the story.

Rapp, reprising her role from Broadway, is the strongest singer of the bunch, even if she doesn’t quite have the appeal that Rachel McAdams had as Regina in the original film. For the adults in the room, appearances by Fey, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Jon Hamm, Busy Phillips, and Ashley Park (who originated the role of Gretchen on Broadway) are all greatly enjoyable.

While the movie musical version of Mean Girls doesn’t prove its existence as absolutely necessary, or as good as the original movie, it’s still much better entertainment than moviegoers are typically given in the middle of January. The story is easy to understand, the songs breeze by, and the actors bring everything they’ve got.

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Mean Girls opens in theaters on January 12.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig's risky choices pay off in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit, with no interference or questions, shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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