On Jan. 12, “Mean Girls” was released in theaters and I was shocked within the first five minutes. 

After being asked to see this movie by a friend, I thought nothing of it. I’ve seen the original “Mean Girls” many times, so I expected something similar with different actors and actresses. However, once the first song began, I was perplexed. Why had no one told me it was a musical? 

While the musicality didn’t ruin my experience overall, I was shocked whenever the first notes began. Initially, I enjoyed the songs because of their unique take on “Mean Girls.” While the singing was not terrible across the board, when taking a closer look the choices of actors could have been better. 

The movie started with Damian and Janice, played by Jaquel Spivey and Auil’i Cravalho, respectively, filming a TikTok-like video. Both actors understood the assignment when it came to singing with passion and conveying their character’s emotions. 

With that being said, why was the singing from lead actress Angourie Rice so much different from the Broadway musical the movie was modeled after? Rice’s performance was utterly disappointing. She severely lacks the true sentiment many other actors have on stage. Where the other performer’s notes had a certain zeal behind them, hers felt dry and had minimal feeling behind them. 

Notably, Reneé Rapp’s performance as the iconic villain, Regina George, ate Rice up tenfold. She previously played George on Broadway and her theatrical chops shined through in her execution of both her singing and acting. Rapp knew what to bring to the movie because she had the experience Rice lacked. 

Avantika Vandanapu truly served in her role as well. She plays Karen Shetty in the movie, perfectly capturing her ditsy, dim-witted demeanor. She is mainly in “The Plastics” posse to lighten up the mood and make Regina look smarter. Having someone to constantly correct and belittle asserts Regina’s dominance as queen. Her most notable performance is “Sexy,” which she performs at the Halloween party. Her singing, dancing and acting greatly reflected Karen’s role in The Plastics.

One question everyone asked themselves was: why was Christopher Briney in this movie if he said he doesn’t like singing? In the initial conversation about auditioning, he told Entertainment Weekly his response was, “I’m good. I don’t sing.” If you’re in a movie inspired by a musical, it’s expected for you to sing a tune or two. His immediate dismissal of the role should show he wasn’t what this movie needed. 

He was probably picked due to his insane popularity surrounding, “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Casting him as Aaron Samuels would make sense if he sang. He told Today, “I’m sure I could figure it out.” Then why didn’t he take the role seriously enough to put in the effort to “figure it out”? Overall, the casting for him seemed to be solely for marketing and had very little to do with how well he fit for the role. 

While Briney and Rice’s performances fell flat, I did thoroughly enjoy this movie. All of the acting and singing put together created a visually appealing final product. There was enough meat to the movie, providing a different perspective than the original movie released in 2004. With the use of social media along with the songs from the musical, it added a new appeal to the classic movie. If I had to watch a remake with no changes, I would’ve been utterly disappointed. I hoped we had come up with a different take after 20 years and the producers succeeded in doing exactly that. 

If you go in with no expectations, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t show up expecting a Broadway-level performance.