It\u2019s a semi-depressing IP circle jerk, less a movie than a filmed deal, so I suppose the lede here should be that Mean Girls 2.0 <\/em>isn\u2019t bad<\/em>. It\u2019s energetic, the performers are capable and charismatic, and Fey\u2019s script still has plenty of juice. But again, that\u2019s part of the problem; it\u2019s not like the 2004 film doesn\u2019t still play (and if you don\u2019t believe me, go to any of the many<\/em> revival screenings it still fills), so all you\u2019re getting here is an elaborate cosplay, in which the only noteworthy additions are forgettable songs and social media montages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As before, our focus is on Cady (Angourie Rice, looking approximately three weeks older than she did in The Nice Guys<\/em> seven years ago), entering public school for the first time as a junior after 12 years of homeschooling abroad. She has barely begun navigating the various intertwining cliques of high school, under the tutelage of artsy Janis (Auli\u02bbi Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) when she is adopted by the \u201cPlastics,\u201d led by \u201cqueen bee\u201d Regina George (Rene\u00e9 Rapp); at Janis\u2019s urging, she infiltrates the clique, only to become just as nasty and manipulative as Regina herself. Complications ensue, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fey\u2019s new script sticks pretty close to her original, with a few quotable new lines (when Cady shows up to the Halloween party in her horrifying, rather than provocative, costume, Gretchen scolds her, \u201cCady, if you don\u2019t dress slutty, you\u2019re slut-shaming us<\/em>\u201d). She does, however, indulge in too many too-cute in-jokes; I would encourage anyone who doesn\u2019t fully understand \u201cfan service\u201d to observe the moment in which Lindsay Lohan, cameoing as the moderator of the Mathletes competition, announces, \u201cThis has only happened once<\/em> before!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main draw here are the performers. Rice is as likable as ever, and boasts a fine (if modest) singing voice. Rapp, who took over the role of Regina midway through the stage run, is an old-school Broadway belter, and has a blast with the role. Bebe Wood and Avantika, as (respectively) Gretchen and Karen, are frequently funny without resorting to imitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the revelation here is Cravalho, whom younger viewers will know primarily as the voice of Moana; she\u2019s terrific, charismatic and fierce, and a hell of a singer to boot. In the \u201cgrown-up\u201d role, Busy Phillips is hysterical as Regina\u2019s mom, and Jon Hamm gets a great little character bit, though neither Fey nor Tim Meadows come up with much of anything new in reprising their roles from the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that, unfortunately, goes for the musical additions as well. Part of the problem is inconsistency; Fey doesn\u2019t appear to have really worked through how to best add music to this story, so some of the numbers are organic (like a performative phone recording of the first song, \u201cCautionary Tale\u201d), some are traditionally, spontaneous, break-into-song situations, and some are cleverly conceived little breakouts, like the flashbacks and fantasies on 30 Rock. <\/em>But the bigger issue is that the songs, carried over from the stage version, simply aren\u2019t terribly good or memorable. There are occasional witty lyrics (\u201cThis is modern feminism talkin\u2019 \/ I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in\u201d), and even a number or two that\u2019s genuinely funny (the switch from \u201cJingle Bell Rock\u201d to a new number, an amusingly explicit holiday jam called \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Pole,\u201d is one of the few places where a change is an improvement). <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the serious numbers, like Regina\u2019s confessional power ballad, are far less successful, and a glance at the credits indicates what the problem may have been: the music is by one Jeff Richmond, who appears to have landed the gig based less on his musical acumen than because he\u2019s Tina Fey\u2019s husband. Richmond did incidental music for 30 Rock<\/em> and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt<\/em>, and did it well, but that\u2019s quite a different skill set from musical theatre composition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The direction, by first-timers Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., is energetic and occasionally inventive (mostly in their reality-bending \u201cmusical theatre\u201d staging, primarily how they move from one setting to another), and some of the flashy moments stick. Again, it\u2019s not that Mean Girls<\/em> is a waste of time; it\u2019s a pleasant enough way to pass a couple of hours on a snowy afternoon. But I walked in uncertain of its necessity, and walked out unconvinced otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Mean Girls” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mean-girls2-1024x576.jpg\")
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