In the last edition published, I wrote an article titled “Why I’m nervous about the ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie.” I’m not happy to report that I was VERY right for feeling nervous.
Let’s start with what I thought went well. As I suspected, Auli’i Cravalho (Janis ‘Imi’ike), Jaquel Spivey (Damian Hubbard), and Renee Rapp (Regina George) were phenomenal. They truly stole the show, especially Cravalho and Spivey. Each scene had me searching for them in the background to see what funny reactions they had to what was going on around them.
Rapp, who starred as Regina on Broadway when she was 19, was truly impressive. The depth she was able to give the character was exceptional, as were her vocals.
Though the performances of those three were the highlight for me, I was truly impressed with the performances of all main cast members other than Angourie Rice (Cady Heron) and Christopher Briney (Aaron Samuels). Briney’s performance wasn’t inherently bad, it simply left a lot to be desired.
Rice’s performance as Cady was fine. Her acting was on par with what she typically does and her vocal performance was okay. At some points, specifically during “Stupid With Love,” it sounded like she was dissociating while singing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Rice is a bad singer. In fact, I think she has a lovely voice. I just think that she was put on the same soundtrack as vocal powerhouses like Renee Rapp and Auli’i Cravalho and she simply was unable to keep up. There were many songs that were cut or altered so that Rice was able to sing them, which was disappointing as a fan of the musical.
Speaking of songs being altered, it’s time we discuss the arrangements. It seemed like they were trying to give the songs more of a mainstream pop feel, turning their backs on the Broadway arrangements. The tempos of the songs were slowed and the instruments were toned way back. In the end, a majority of the songs sounded like something I’d hear on “lofi hip hop radio – beats to relax/study to” with a dash of “Fireflies” by Owl City in there. It certainly did not sound like the Broadway soundtrack that this movie took its inspiration from.
As I wrote last edition, there are very few instances in which I think a movie musical is better than a proshot, which is when a production is filmed on the stage. This movie solidified that opinion.
All in all, I’m sure that non-theatre fans saw the movie and thought it was a fine movie. But, as a massive fan of the musical, I am so disappointed with this movie. I really hope, as unlikely as this is, that they just decide to release a proshot to make up for this whole mess. In the meantime, I’ll stick to my “slime tutorials” on YouTube.
