The month of January is often seen as a dry month for movies. With award season in full swing, production companies hold off on the releases of new content while people are catching up on everything that was nominated from the previous year. This year, one movie was determined to create buzz despite being released in January: the 2024 musical version of the classic 2000s comedy Mean Girls.
Mean Girls has remained iconic since its original release in 2004. Even two decades later, fans across multiple generations are quoting the movie and wearing the characters’ iconic Halloween costumes. Further cementing its place in pop culture, Mean Girls also has a musical adaptation that debuted on Broadway in 2018.
No matter how many years have gone by, it seems Mean Girls will always have a fan base. It’s a staple comedy of this generation and loved by practically everyone. So, when the decision was made to turn the Broadway musical into a film, the executives behind the master plan likely believed everyone would love it.
While the movie was in production, it was clear that one problem was on everyone’s mind: a lot of people don’t like musicals. How can this movie successfully pull in the audience if some will already be sworn off because of its musical numbers? The solution they came up with was to not market the movie as a movie-musical, but simply as a movie. There were no songs in the trailer, and aside from a small music note placed in the “A” of the Mean Girls logo, there was no indication that this was a musical.
Once the film was released, many took to social media to complain that they had no clue the movie was filled with songs until after they had bought their ticket. Many TikTok videos went viral of entire theaters groaning when a character would start singing. Needless to say, those who felt they had been tricked were not happy.
However, there are many lovers of the 2018 Broadway production and also a large crowd of viewers who like musicals as a genre. Most people in this group had gotten wind of the release being a musical early and thought they knew what they were getting into when they sat down in the theater. Unfortunately, the movie couldn’t please these viewers either. With many of the original Broadway songs being cut (a typical practice for movie adaptations, but still upsetting to fans), they had to wow everyone with the ones they decided to keep. Many of the arrangements were changed, bringing down the original excitement of the songs. It was underwhelming, to say the least.
One of the saving features of the movie might be the casting of Reneé Rapp, a choice very few had complaints about, as she was highly praised for her work as Regina George on Broadway. The main casting that did cause criticism was Angourie Rice as Cady Heron. Despite proving herself as a talented actress in the past, she has had no documented history of musical theater or singing, and it shows. Her vocal performance wasn’t strong enough to be the leading lady in a musical, and again, many took to social media to compare her performance with the original Broadway recording.
So, the movie wasn’t movie enough for fans of the original, and it wasn’t musical enough for fans of Broadway. Who was this movie intended for? It’s clear from the marketing that the goal is to draw in the largest possible audience. In doing so, it left the majority of viewers feeling disappointed. The outrage on social media has surely pushed away more potential viewers as well.
When making art, the goal should never be to appease everyone. When you’re making a musical, it’s better to play into that niche and get the community to create a positive buzz. Mean Girls (2024) has shown us that when you try and make everyone happy, you often end up making no one happy in the end.
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