BALLZER’S MEAN GIRLS REVIEW

Reworking an early aughts teen comedy into a Broadway musical, and then coming full circle to make that music a movie shouldn’t work. It frequently doesn’t, in fact.
The new Mean Girls musical movie does work, proving again that Tiny Fey is a damn genius. She doesn’t stray too far from the original screenplay but there’s a lot of updates including a more diverse cast and plenty of new jokes. The use of social media throughout the movie is brilliant and the songs from Tina’s husband, the incredibly talented Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin are enjoyable. Nell did lyrics for Legally Blonde, too, which is another musical that surprisingly works.
Was it cheesy? Absolutely. It that kind of what I usually love about musicals? Also, yes.
And shocking no one, Janis is still my favorite character…

I took myself on a date, (which I think we should all do more often) went on a Wednesday, and definitely wore pink:

Also, on a seemingly random tangent: the trailer for Argylle was in the previews, edited to show just at this movie with some fun, specific Easter Eggs for fans of Mean Girls, and looks really fun. It comes out in February.

Feature Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP