Mean Girls Trailer Debuts A Shot-For-Shot Remake Of Lindsay Lohan's Classic Rom-Com
"Mean Girls" is a landmark comedy of the 21st century, and its influence on pop culture still reverberates today. C'mon, this is the movie that inspired us to wear pink on Wednesdays and sing "Jingle Bell Rock" at Christmas parties. Through the movie's health-class lessons (Lindsay Lohan), we learned that sex leads to ... guaranteed pregnancy and death? (Well, it was 2004.) Much to the delight of Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chaberts), "fetch" became cool slang! However, this success meant that a "Mean Girls" remake was inevitable — even if none of us saw it coming.
Well, that remake debuts in January 2024, and there's already a trailer for it. The redo sees Angourie Rice play Cady Heron, a high school student whose social status skyrockets after being welcomed into The Plastics, an elite social group made up of Regina George (Reneé Rapp), Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood), and Karen Shetty (Avantika Vandanapu). If you've seen the original movie, you know the story. So far, the remake doesn't look like it's bringing any fresh ideas to the table. In fact, the trailer looks like the exact same film as its predecessor. Still, fans of "Mean Girls" will be happy to see original stars like Tina Fey back in the fold, both as an actor and screenwriter.
Ok, but is it a musical? Or just has musical numbers?
As many YouTuber commenters pointed out already, this trailer is quite misleading. In addition to being a remake, the upcoming film is an adaptation of "Mean Girls: The Musical." However, that doesn't come across clearly due to the absence of actual songs in the teaser — despite a brief glimpse of some glitter-exploding-dance-chaos. "I'm surprised the trailer doesn't feature any aspect of this being a musical, since u know, that's the main difference in this version," @DXCary10 wrote, echoing the view of many other fans in the comments section.
However, some fans feel that omitting the musical numbers from the trailer is a wise move for promotional purposes. YouTuber @pontip3262 suggested that this aspect of the film will be teased later on; for now, though, the idea is to appeal to viewers who might not be familiar with the stage show.
Regardless of whether this film fully commits to being a remake or a musical adaptation, some people aren't looking forward to the new "Mean Girls," as they feel its existence is unnecessary. "I have low expectations for this, @jrojas2520 added. "The original will never be topped."
We'll have to see what this Regina George has in store for Cady when this latest "Mean Girls" hits theaters on January 12, 2024.