The new “Mean Girls” movie recently has hit the film industry and the feedback is anything but promising compared to the original hit released in 2004. The Mean Girls movie was released in 2024, which was followed by the hit Mean Girls musical on Broadway from 2019-2020. While opinions rose on social media concerning the new contemporary style of the film, many feel that the movie did not live up to the standards and expectations concerning the character’s personalities, clothing, or tones of Broadway, which took away the feel of the original feel.
Critics believe Regina George would be lathered in looks from; Gucci, Prada, etc. “I didn’t like that it was just one big E.L.F ad,” says Kaitlyn Johnson (9), “the clothes looked cheap and it was kind of a promotion.” Throughout the movie, advertisers made a mission to sprinkle brand names, mainly make-up products and E.L.F cosmetics. From major to minor scenes, the advertisement was able to achieve their mission, however, did they overdo their job? Many argue the style of advertisement was overdone and looked rather, “cheap,” than a well-performed cinematic film. At one point, the main character Cady, tells Aaron that her lipstick is “E.L.F. ON Face.” The overuse of advertisement, not only takes away from the humor of the movie, but it overall takes away from the originality of the movie by incorporating unrealistic tones of modern influences, one being E. L. F, which Regina George, the queen herself would never be wearing.
Along with critical feedback concerning advertising, many argue they were given no warning about the film being a musical. “I didn’t even know it was a musical until I saw clips of it on TikTok,” said Carter Mann(9). Many have stated that they did not promote the movie as a musical and just as a remake of the original Mean Girls. Videos are surfacing everywhere of people being irritated and annoyed when one of the characters starts singing, and when a song plays, people say that the songs aren’t as good as the Broadway show. They say that the characters are too “bland” and have no emotion in their voice, “Cady doesn’t even sound mad when she sings, she sounds so bored,” states Carter Mann.
