‘Was it actually good? I’ve heard it’s really bad’ is the response I get every time I mention I’ve seen the new Mean Girls film and every time I answer saying I loved the musical so of course I would enjoy this! The problem is… a lot of people don’t like musicals.
If you have TikTok I’m sure you’ve seen the countless clips with commentary about how bad the film is and whilst it’s not a perfect film, it is nowhere near as bad as people make out.
The first problem is that people are so nostalgic for the original film that they will automatically not like a modern remake of it and whilst it’s technically not a remake but an adaption of the musical, people won’t see it that way. I think people also forget that the original film wasn’t a work of art either, they are both fun teen comedy films and that’s it!
The second problem is obviously the fact it’s a musical, the first trailer for the film didn’t show any music at all whilst the others had clips from ‘World Burn’. Paramount argued that it is not a musical but a film with music which can be true but considering it’s not just a couple songs, most audiences will consider it a musical. This is where we see all the clips of people laughing in cinemas and making fun of it because they didn’t expect to or want to hear songs!
People have also experienced this recently with Wonka, although many expected to hear songs, I’ve still seen complaints about the musical numbers in it because they were barely shown in the trailers. This poses the question, are we tricking people into seeing musical films? and does this increase the bad reviews after?
However, although Mean Girls has experienced a lot of negativity, it has also prompted a lot of people to go and see it. I went the day it came out in the UK (a week after the US release) and our cinema screen was pretty full! and at the end of the day, everyone there seemed to enjoy it!
In all honesty, don’t knock it till you try it! Yes, if you don’t like musicals maybe Mean Girls isn’t for you but it was a lot more enjoyable and funny than people made out, and maybe if you give it a go you’d enjoy it!
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