"acted nice when she not nice" sounds like a lyric drew gooden would write as a joke

Imagine saying "he's just kind of there" about your own damn character 💀

I don't understand why Regina basically got... sanitized. Like now they feel like she has to be likable and unproblematic. Isn't that the point?? For her to be, well, *mean*????

I swear if they said socially unaliving it would be funnier than socially ruinous 😭😭

I saw a review on Letterboxd under this movie that simply just said "Shein Girls." Perfectly summarized how I feel about this movie.

That Stupid With Love remake was unforgivable 💀

I hate saying this, but in an effort to not offend anyone, they took all of the meaning out of the movie. Taking away references to weight, slut-shaming, and homophobia, really denies the reality of bullying in high school. Some things they took out (some of the racism, etc) were good choices, but taking out every possibly offensive thing in the movie takes the teeth out of it and undercuts the theme of the whole movie.

The new movie seems like it’s really, _really_ scared of coming across as “problematic” even when the problematic aspects are the point.

"Acting nice when SHENOTNICE" actually had me in tears in the theater... I couldn't stop laughing 😭

that middle schooler calling him fugly was so real

“deh, cinderella, the prom, cats, what do they have in common?” me: “JAMES CORDON” “they’re bad” me: “eh same thing”

Some of these jokes feel like cheating off of an essay online and changing a ton of words with synonyms and hoping no one notices until the whole essay is a convoluted mess.

The “acted nice when she not nice” actually doesn’t bother me. But “if you treat me bad l I’ll say YOU’RE BAD” is SO BAD OMG. Also “I will not laugh along with them and approve their palace coup cuz that’s not me.” is bad because…YES IT IS YOU. Janis is a VENGEFUL PERSON. Why all of a sudden does she have a moral high ground??

Just because it’s 2024 and being homophobic is totally frowned upon, doesn’t mean that bullies aren’t homophobic. I hate how some movies are starting to remove vital flaws in characters just bc it isn’t the “approved” narrative.

Ok but to be fair, when Lindsay Lohan showed up on screen in our theatre everyone DID applaud.

bedtime just got rescheduled one hour and sixteen minutes later

Tina Fey grabbed a thesaurus, pulled the original screenplay up on Microsoft Word, and put that find and replace function to WORK.

Wouldn't my "mother's mean girls" be idk Heaters?

The TikTok scenes alone will make this version dated

The implication constantly of doing references back to the original Mean Girls implies that both the original Mean Girls happened canonically and then a movie was made about it. Furthermore, this implies that the characters who would have been the same person as in the original just straight up didn't notice that the bizzare events from years and years ago just happened again, with a bunch of people with identical names.

The movies pacing and acting honestly feels like they were rushed in production it also just felt like a fever dream in theatre 💀

You've heard of Sassy Black Woman!!! Now welcome the new, BETTER, version!!! Sassy Gay Black Man. Wow so much better!!! And definitely NOT still racist, and now even homophobic!

my main issue with cadys character is that she just loses all of her dorky fun confidence that she has in the musical, she becomes so BORING

I'm so tired of this trend in Hollywood now where, if something is getting a reboot, they'll completely remove anything that is even slightly considered "offensive" or "problematic." Netflix's ATLA and virtually every single Disney live action remake does the same thing too. Especially if it NEEDED to be "problematic" in order to make a point, or if it's important for a character's development arc. Removing characters being sexist or homophobic is not going to stop people from being sexist or homophobic, it's just makes it easier for people to pretend that it doesn't exist anymore.

Fun fact: Middle Schooler Theater Kids do Love “I’m just Ken”

The way I visibly withered and turned grey when Max said he was an eighth grader in 2018

When I was watching the musical in theaters, the love interest's face came onto screen and somebody yelled "ew!" And the entire audience burst out laughing.

10:02: I have my own grievance with the "I'm a sexy mouse, duh" line. Why is she saying "duh" in the 2024 movie? In the original, it made sense because she's answering someone's question. Here, she's saying it just because it's a bit from the original.

The Mean Girls Musical Movie is the exact image of what people who *don't* like musicals think musicals are.

I hate when reboots dumb down the original and don’t add anything. There are so many recent films just rebooting as a cash grab. Great analysis as always!

one of the weirdest things they did was give cady's part in apex predator to damien. what was supposed to be cady weighing the pros and cons of being friends with the plastics vs janis just becomes damien insulting janis right to her face 😭

I actually took part in a focus group for this movie. The moderator, at one point when taking my notes, said "They've already shot the movie."

I'm desperate to get pop producers away from movie musicals. It's fine if they write the songs that play over credits, but otherwise they feel like they've been a net-negative for the genre. For example, I feel like Encanto had a more "pop" sound than most Disney movies, and then Disney learned the wrong lesson by giving Wish to pop songwriters (resulting in potentially one of the worst Disney musical soundtracks ever). The difference is that Lin-Manuel Miranda is a musical theater kid at heart rather than a pop guy. Still, everyone in the entertainment industry heard that Hamilton featured rap, and now we're facing the consequences.

4:32 Dude, the people who would've been "turned off" by it being advertised as a musical are people who DON'T LIKE musicals. It doesn’t take a marketing degree to know you shouldn't advertise a musical to people who don't like musicals.

i will not be gaslit into hearing auli’i cravalho say “the loons” instead of balloons

How on earth is the original Mean Girls problematic in anyway? It's literally called MEAN Girls Not "Girls You Should Aspire to be Like" It's literally a commentary on those problematic behaviors.

i have a conspiracy that they actually wanted sabrina carpenter as cady but she was unavailable so they had to settle

Ironically people hate being jumpscared with musicals, not musical movies

I will forever seek revenge for the "I am filled with calculust" line! WHERE IS THE ENERGY THE SONG ISNT A BALLAD MY GOD WHO THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY TO JUST MUTILATE IT LIKE THAT also the fact that the bus scene takes place BEHIND JANICE SINGING "id rather be me" into the camera??? (one thing i do like is that the background actors have a great and realistic reaction from i could tell)

“Stop trying to make this about you, I’m the one that got hit by a bus” is so much funnier than any joke in the musical movie

"I'm not the guy who hates musicals" .....who's going to show him that musical?

I won’t lie, I kinda liked that “I know you’re a vegetarian” joke. Anyway great video, man, a lot more detailed and well written than any other I’ve seen about this movie

"i cant even watch when she touches his hair 😐 and i watched a snake eat a cow 😒" WHHYYYYY

My biggest problems with the tiktok montages are: 1- It makes the movie feel like millenials trying to mimic gen z 2- In real life NO ONE would waste there time doing a tiktok about a random school's talent show!!!!!

“Imperfections are more realistic, and they add life to music that, frankly, needs life to function. We’re telling stories here, not making the most perfect pop song.” FIRE 🔥

Cutting “more is better” is one of the most bizarre fucking choices that was made w/ this adaptation. Cady was also just trotted along throughout the original plot beats, assuming the audience has seen the original.

my primary gripe is that i think all early 2000s media should be left as period pieces,, THIS movie and the musical itself should be set in 2004

I think some of the cringier lyrics in the original musical worked because of the acting and over the topness of delivery. “Dresses and cake, singing and dancing, and CAKE” works in the musical because of the way janice emphasizes the line. It almost feels like Janice got excited about having cake at the party and didn’t sing the line she was supposed too. The movie strips this and the “acted nice when she not nice” of any tone at all and makes it seem less like a “we know these lyrics aren’t good its a joke hahah” and more like “we don’t know how to sing or write lyrics!”

Talking about the scene with Cady and Janis’ confrontation, I had the thought that instead of the song starting partway through the argument, if the entire thing had been a song that then suddenly stops when Cady says Janis is in love with her, I feel like that kinda works better in a musical theatre sense? Idk it just popped into my head

29:56 The EPITOME of "yess girl, give us nothing !!" Omg where is the energy..??

One aspect that I haven’t heard anybody talk about is the fact that these random ass tiktokers are making videos dissing a literal child from a random high school in Illinois. Even if these people supposedly go to the same school, it’s once again ignoring the idea of subtlety. Regina is popular, sure, but why are people referring to her in the TikTok’s they make as though everyone’s gonna know who she is?

❌ get people who can sing and act good ✅ get people who can’t sing nor act good, but hey, at least they look somewhat similar to the actors in the original movie (except gretchen and karen) ❌ get people from the actual musical because they actually have talent (besides renee rapp) ✅ get random actors who can’t sing and just cut out like half of the songs i could go on and on

"well why is that?" Enter 1 hour 15 minute essay

the thing is, mean girls the musical is so lyrically bad, but the songs are so fun to sing and listen to that it kinda makes up for it. the movie took the the thing it had going for it💀

36:07 those lyrics do actually illustrate something sort of important to Janice's character- we get this idea of a party that doesn't really exist at that age. High schoolers don't have parties with cake and balloons and singing- that's what the party of a much younger child would look like. Say, a child in middle school. Janice doesn't use the visuals of a teenager's party because she hasn't been to one. She stopped getting invited to parties in seventh grade That's just a note I'm fond of, noted by the lyricist of the original musical. I think it's a good reason to keep those lines in

To be fair… people who think they hate musicals don’t even recognize that those Disney films are musicals -- “those are CARTOOONS.”

I’m not afraid to admit I enjoy the original musical. Not ironically or anything, but just because when I listen to the cast recording it is so clear to me that the cast were having _fun._ They are putting their everything into these roles and I can’t help but enjoy it, despite some of the more glaring flaws. And honestly, I think that’s my main problem with this movie: no one is having fun. Renee is putting her all into this, but even she doesn’t seem to be enjoying herself here and it makes the whole film drag.

I think the first mistake in making a Mean Girls broadway musical is Regina George can’t get run over by a bus :(

“Post 9/11 Christmas music is dire man” might be the greatest sentence ever

When you listed off the recent movie musicals and asked what made them bad I said: "James Corden" with my full chest

Okay the “I’m sorry I said you were dragging during Revenge Party” joke is funny as hell. That one’s for the theatre kids 100%

I’ve somehow never seen any version of mean girls so I’m trusting you to educate me, max

Angourie Rice’s lightheaded looking sigh-smile deserves the roast that Debby Ryan’s hair-tuck got. I’ve seen it a dozen times and I’m only halfway through this commentary video. HOW MANY TIMES DID SHE DO IT IN THE ACTUAL MOVIE?

I feel like changing Janice to be gay, while not bad, does miss the point of the original film. While original Janice’s romance with Kevin is quick, the point is to show she’s not a lesbian. Regina spread a false rumor that was still impacting Janice. Both cady and Regina weaponized homophobia rather than acknowledge Janice pointing out problems in their friendship which is pretty mean girl behavior

The further thing with why Janice hates Regina and vice versa, it feels like Regina is almost justified in being awful to Janice???? Like Regina treated Janice poorly, sure, but also Janice's response was to SETTING SOMETHING OF REGINA'S ON FIRE.

You and I had opposite experiences, Max. When Aaron appeared on screen, a middle school girl behind me yelled "THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND" 😐

the cinematography literally looks exactly like the dear evan hansen movie, they're both filmed like the whole thing is a music video

I really dont understand how studios think not advertising a musical is a better alternative it just leaves the audience feeling duped and angry. When the first song of Wonka started I just thought oh brother this is gonna be a long film.

As one of the three entire people who actually REALLY likes and would actively defend the Mean Girls Musical (it's silly and fun and campy and stupid I love it and its dumb lyrics, I unironically love lines like "i am filled with calculust" and "imagine a party with dresses and cake and singing and dancing and cake"), this movie was an embarrassment even for us embarrassments who actually liked the show. Why do the backing tracks sound Like That. Who said "hey you know what Apex Predator needs? shitty animal sound effects and (what I'm 80% sure are) BONGOS and a DIGIRIDOO". What asshole suit decided that they just NEEDED to add riverdancing to Stupid With Love. Why cut It Roars, one of the most important and arguably best song in the show (though to be fair most of the good parts of this song is because Erika Henningson is so very good at everything and filled with personality). Like, the main problem is whoever decided to do these instrumentals and the music in general did not understand how music works or even how the music in the show works? Even the constant genre switching works (somewhat) because certain characters have certain genres/instrumentals: Janis has the guitars and drums and a general pop-rock sound, Caddy has her "african" instruments and upbeat instruments with heavy percussion and some strings, Damian has classic broadway and big band brass, Regina has sweeping bombastic orchestra, etc. How did you fuck this up so bad. Homogenizing all of them into pop just makes it all bad. What were they doing??? But in all seriousness, this essay rocks. This movie... did not. I appreciate all of your takes, and they are (mostly) all correct (though I will fight you on the lyrics of Mean Girls, the silly dumbness is part of the charm, though that may be my garbage taste). Absolutely rocks.

Hairspray (2007) is one of the best movie musicals ever produced. Genuinely still wows me to this day. (Just reminding myself that movie musicals can be great)

I hate that I even thought this, but I was super confused by their choice in Aaron Samuels. While the OG isn't really my type there was way more of an argument for his being the film's high school heartthrob vs the new Aaron who just looks goofy AF and like he'd be cast as a Mathlete in any other version of this story.

angourie rice sounds like they filmed her doing half-hearted vocals for the lip sync later and they just forgot to dub it over

I think tina fey just isnt as in touch with things today as she was writing the original. The forst relatable and felt real and not forced. This new one is very forced writing, as if Tina has no odea what would even be funny here aymore.

There are some awful lyrics in this show, you pointed out 'when she not nice one' but I can't abide 'regina george is not your friend, we're your friends and we're gonna make you pay' is awful

that girl calling aaron fugly is so relatable

"What do these films have in common?" 3/4 in them: *j a m e s c o r d e n*

My biggest issues with the new mean girls movie/musical would be the casting and clothing choices. The old mean girls had really cool outfits that were all unique. I feel as if the new casting also isn’t very good.

Mean girls made me terrified for Wicked the movie

When my friend went to the theaters and saw aaron for the first time, she went "ope-turn back around."

The mean girls musical was already a mixed bag/guilty pleasure musical imo. It did NOT need a movie to make it even worse

36:26 That was actually original lyrics that they cut from the broadway version! When I saw the movie for the first time I was like "omg cool they brought back the og lyrics!!" but I also get why it was cut from the broadway version in the first place

The Sexy remake made me cry, The actress sang ok but the background music changed SO MUCH, I didn’t really pay any attention to the singing but the background, why change it? EDIT- y’all I wasn’t taking about the singer in a bad way she sang beautifully

Admittedly, some of the jokes in the old mean girls are really offensive but when we’re taking into consideration that this is supposed to be a high school compared to the stuff I’ve heard in my high school they are so vanilla I just don’t like how in the second mean girls no one acts like a highschooler

The part that most bothered me was making Janis innocent, she was not! She’s was mean girl just like the rest! Not adding anything new it’s disappointing but whatever, however, changing something and making it worse… sheesh

no cuz why does the girl playing cady look like an elementary school librarian she feels so BORING

I really appreciate how you point out that girls are still mean. I went to an all girls catholic high school in the early 2010s and good God we were all horrible to each other at times, not helped by how much both the school and interpersonal dynamics pushed feminine conformity on us. I think even in public schools this push to conform to hierarchy is hurting all students, especially girls, and it's frustrating to see the plastics who in the original were THE ideal of conformist heteronormative teenagers become, in this new version, a biiiiig miss. idk it just misses what it should be interesting social commentary about the ongoing sexism that girls perpetuate to each other in the school system

It seems like a lot of newer movies from hollywood have this problem, they dont trust the audience to figure things out themselves

I think Janis said “I’ll bring balloons” instead of “I’ll bring the loons,” but you can hear both. I’ve never heard anyone call balloons “loons” so I think it’s just a Taylor Swift “Starbucks Lovers” instead of “long list of ex lovers,” moment. 😂

I actually like the second "she doesn't even go here" line, it's sort of the surprise joke you were talking about

i’m sorry but you saying you were in 8th grade in 2018 shot through me like a bullet 😭😭😭 but so far so good !!!!!

at this point they might as well rename it to just "girls", cuz the mean is absolutely gone, reduced to atoms

1:00:00 they do this in the original musical but shes not rapping its more like sing-yelling and the music swells and suddenly drops. the mainstreamification hit that part HARD

the new revenge party sounds almost like it would fit seamlessly on a kidz bop album

i have to say mean girls is also one of my favourite movies, so i was also extremely disappointed when i watched the new one. but i think my biggest reason for disliking it is a bit different from yours and i'm surprised you didn't mention it: the costume design is so awful. the deliberate outfits that they chose for each character to symbolize their character progression in the original (especially cady) was completely dropped for outfits that were quite literally attempts at pandering to today's teens. and i'm not joking, this is literally what tom broecker said about the costume design for the new movie--"We were trying to think in the mind of a 16-year-old girl and how they shop, so we were doing a lot of online, Instagram and Tiktok shopping, because that's how teenagers shop now." like i _get it,_ if you're making a reboot you want to appeal to the new generation of audiences, but y2k is quite literally still an extremely popular fashion trend today. i'm 17 and i still adore the fashion in the old mean girls movie, and would really like to recreate some of the outfits for myself. in fact, i see much more girls at my highschool dress similarly to the 2004 film than the 2024 one. the new outfits they picked not only disregard the vision and storytelling of the original film, but it's also just.. Very tacky lol. i'm not saying they should've just used all the original outfits btw, i really wanted to see something fresh that still kept the general vibe and symbolism that the original had. but ig it's just another example of how the people who worked on this movie didn't understand the original. (also, i get why she's not since it hasn't really been a mainstream trend since the 2000's, but janice should've kept the emo look.)

I actually really liked the gag of having musicians show up in the background every couple of scenes, especially with it leading to the joke of “I’m sorry I said you were rushing during Revenge Party.” I found that as a musician so fucking funny.

Wait, “not your mother’s Mean Girls” wtf???? I’m technically Gen Z (25) and I still remember when the original came out. My mom is 60 and I doubt she ever watched it

icl i love a few of the songs (like sexy, someone gets hurt, and world burn- basically anything with the plastics), but the movie mostly just felt like a replacement they wanted to get out for clout, which is honestly rly disappointing :((

Regarding the good moments - the "iCarly theme song in french" was also a funny joke imo

I will never forgive what the directors did to Angourie Rice, she did not deserve that. I understand she looks like a good Cady but they really set her up for failure since she isn’t a broadway level singer. I really hope this doesn’t negatively affect her career, I really enjoy her acting in the other things I’ve seen her in.

Fey didn’t “come on board to write the book…” the musical (AND subsequent film of musical) WAS her project … she pitched the idea, penned it with her husband… the musical IS Tina Fey’s more than anyone’s.