112 min | PG-13 | January 12, 2024 | Paramount Pictures
The Broadway musical adaptation of the movie based on the book. Reneé Rapp owns it. The meta-layers are dizzying but the songs hold up.
This is a movie based on a Broadway musical based on a movie based on a self-help book. At every stage of that chain someone could have lost the thread. Directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. hold onto it. The story is the same. Cady Heron arrives at a new high school. She infiltrates the Plastics. Regina George rules with cruelty and charisma. Betrayals happen. Lessons are learned. The musical numbers are the new variable and they earn their place.
Angourie Rice plays Cady with wide-eyed sincerity that curdles into calculation. She is good. Reneé Rapp plays Regina George and she is better. Rapp originated the role on Broadway and she brings a physical command and vocal power that dominates every scene. When she sings, the film becomes hers. Auli’i Cravalho plays Janis with attitude and a voice that matches. Tina Fey returns as Ms. Norbury and co-wrote the screenplay adaptation. The ensemble is young and game and committed to the material.
The film makes a smart choice to not announce itself as a musical. Characters break into song without the usual Broadway-adaptation fanfare. The numbers are staged with energy and visual creativity. The choreography works within the high school setting without feeling confined by it. The production design updates the world to include social media without making it the point. The script preserves Fey’s original jokes while adding musical numbers that do genuine emotional work.
The question with any adaptation this layered is whether it justifies its own existence. This one does. The songs are good. The performances are strong. The updating is smart without being desperate. It is not the original film. It is not trying to be. It is a musical that knows its source material and trusts its cast to make it feel new.