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MEAN GIRLS Drags the Movie Musical Into the Viral Age
In some ways, stories of adolescent melodrama are universal. In other ways, they are definitively generational. Each new crop of teenagers have their own unique concerns and idiosyncratic ways of navigating the world. But sometimes certain narrative tropes transcend these generational divides. That is certainly what Tina Fey is betting on.
Bebe Wood plays Gretchen, Renee Rapp plays Regina and Avantika plays Karen in Mean Girls from Paramount Pictures. Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount © 2023 Paramount Pictures. Fey of course is often considered the authorial voice behind Mean Girls, the 2004 teen comedy that has served as a central text for the Millenial youth experience. In the years since its release, it has become canonized as an all time classic of the genre, and was the subject of a Broadway musical. Now, twenty years after its initial release, a new film version based on that musical hits theaters. It unapologetically attempts to take the structure of the story but update it for a new generation, incorporating aspects of social media that were in their infancy upon the original’s release. (Facebook hadn’t broken wide quite yet, and Instagram and TikTok weren’t even an idea.)
The end effect is a strange mish-mash. It aims to revitalize the musical as a format in a viral-minded age, but using a previous generations narrative as the skeleton. That is impacted by a few factors, namely that the musical it is based on is lacking in really memorable songs. It also lives in the shadows of some fairly totemic performances, and while the young cast is game and charming, the end effect ends up underwhelming. The most exciting part of the film turns out to be the directorial creativity of debut directing team of Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., who bring a fresh perspective that breathes some life into the film, but not quite enough.
For those unfamiliar, Mean Girls tells the story of Cady Heron (played by Angourie Rice this time around), an formerly homeschooled and sheltered innocent who steps into the world of American high school. She soon finds herself overwhelmed by the criss-crossing cliques and social pressures, but is taken in by outcasts Janis and Damien (Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey respectively, both a highlight) who try to show her the ropes. Before long though, she has caught the attention of Regina George (Reneé Rapp), the queen bee of the North Short High social stratosphere, capable of making or destroying whoever she wishes.
Jaquel Spivey plays Damian, Angourie Rice plays Cady and Auli’i Cravalho plays Janis in Mean Girls from Paramount Pictures. Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount © 2023 Paramount Pictures. Initially Janis and Damian attempt to pull Cady away, but eventually decide for her to “infiltrate” Regina’s social circle to take them down from the inside. Of course, this being high school, things get complicated quickly. Hearts are broken, allegiances shift, and the true allure of fame and popularity drags most anyone down with it if they get too close. There are a few shifts from the original film, as well as the Broadway adaptation on which this version is based, but all those adjustments keep the basic frame of the story intact. Don’t expect any radical re-writing, though the few details that are shifted serve as interesting curios for anyone who has memorized the 2004 original.
The biggest change is more in how the story is told. Director Mark Waters’ 2004 film relies heavily on its razor-sharp script by Fey, and a set of performances by a young cast who captures a cultural moment with confidence. But the basic filmmaking language was in conversation with previous generations of teen comedies: light and frothy but rarely challenging. By contrast, Jayne and Perez have a clear mission in mind: rethink of the movie musical for a viral age. The end result is very flashy, with influences that range from TikTok dance trends to OK GO music videos.
One particularly thrilling sequence follows Janis through a one-take dance number that concludes with one of the stories most memorable and shocking moments, both playful and energetic. Another sequence that fills the screen with a chorus of social media postings creates an overwhelming but undeniable current twist on movie spectacle. These tricks range from clever and exciting, to exhausting and overbearing. But as a proof of concept for a pair of directors with a distinct take on the musical, they are overall refreshingly earnest.
Tina Fey plays Ms. Norbury in Mean Girls from Paramount Pictures. Photo: Jojo Whilden/Paramount © 2023 Paramount Pictures. The end result is hyperkinetic, a mixture of a familiar story and innovative storytelling magic tricks. However, the end result mostly fails to excel past its original; in the same ways a band playing an album live can only in part replicate what made the studio version distinctive, returning to this material again and again has somewhat diluted the once-in-a-generation undeniable verve of the original. It harnesses the energy of a high school play by folks who love the original. But that reverence eventually undermines their original ideas, creating a jovial and clever but ultimately unnecessary cover of a classic.
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Criterion Review: LONE STAR (1996)
The modern classic by John Sayles is out on BluRay/4K
Chris Cooper in Lone Star, courtesy of Criterion Collection. Filmed along the Texas-Mexico border, with Eagle Pass standing in as the fictional town of Frontera, Lone Star is one of independent filmmaker John Sayles’ most popular films. The cast, the interwoven stories with a mystery tying everything together, the border setting and the contemporary western feel all make the work as memorable and thought-provoking as it is. The 1996 classic is now out on 4K UHD/BluRay from Criterion Collection with a beautifully restored print; the special features will please any fan of Sayles.
The discovery of a skeleton in a desert leads sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper, Matewan) to delve into his father Buddy’s early career and how that coincides with the disappearance of racist, corrupt lawman Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson). The Deeds father/son relationship is paralleled with the dynamic between that of the Paynes: clubowner Otis (Ron Canada, The Shield) and career soldier Del (Joe Morton, Brother from Another Planet). Elizabeth Peña (Tortilla Soup) and Míriam Colón (The House of the Spirits) fill out the lead cast as Sam’s childhood love Pilar and her mother with more than one secret in her past.
Joe Morton and Ron Canada in Lone Star, courtesy of Criterion Collection. Peña and Cooper share a marvelous onscreen chemistry. There’s a natural ease between the actors that makes the connection between the two palpable. The framing of their shots together highlights their quiet solitude, like they’re the only couple in the world.
The cast in a Sayles film never disappoints, and Lone Star is no different. A young Matthew McConaughey appears as Buddy and Frances McDormand has a short scene as Sam’s football-obsessed ex-wife. Even in smaller supporting roles, actors such as Clifton James (Cool Hand Luke) and Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy) deliver notable performances.
This 1996 film, based on an original screenplay by Sayles, is both timeless and of its time. While exploring the central mystery, the work touches on numerous issues and themes related to life in Texas and/or on the border. A parent-teacher meeting about Texas history, which turns into an argument over whose version of history is more accurate, is still sadly relevant decades later. Immigration, selective histories, assimilation – even how the military depends on recruitment of marginalized communities of color – these themes in Sayles’ work are themes we continue to explore and confront as a nation.
With Lone Star, Sayles creates a deeply layered composition. The attention to detail within the filmmaking is meticulous, from the lighting mimicking sodium lights to the drive-in theater constructed by the production design team to the stories told from memory, staged so they easily flow in and out of the present. For this Texan critic, Lone Star only gets better with each viewing.
Elizabeth Peña and Chris Cooper in Lone Star, courtesy of Criterion Collection.
The 4K UHD + BluRay package from Criterion includes:
- 4K digital restoration of the film, supervised by Sayles and DP Stuart Dryburgh. The 4K disc is presented in Dolby Vision HDR.
- an insightful conversation between Sayles and fellow director Gregory Nava (El Norte, Selena) about Sayles’ dedication to independent film and hesitation to make Hollywood movies; the filmmaker drily comments, “It seems to be a mutual decision.” Sayles says he was inspired to write Lone Star after a visit to the Alamo during the filming of Piranha. The two discuss his collaborations with producer Maggie Renzi and actor Chris Cooper. On working with a soon-to-make-it-big actor, the director notes that during filming, “He’s not Matthew McConaughey yet.”
- an interview with Director of Photography Stuart Dryburgh on how he came to be involved with the film (“I like his politics,” Dryburgh admits about Sayles), filming in Cinemascope in Eagle Pass, and inspirations for the framing of certain shots.
- original theatrical trailer
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Sleuths for Truth: A TRUE DETECTIVE Roundtable – Season 4, Episode 1
With a new season of HBO’s acclaimed anthology crime thriller out, Justin drops in weekly with a rotating cast of friends from Cinapse and beyond to discuss what the detectives find in the NIGHT COUNTRY
Before we dive into the show, this week’s episode, our thoughts, Jodie Foster, or anything else, let me first be clear so I don’t ruin anyone’s fun… there will be spoilers. So let this serve as a SPOILER WARNING and if you’re caught up with the show, we hope you’ll stay, share your theories, and let us know what you think about True Detective: Night Country. We’ll be posting every week on Wednesday or Thursday with our latest thoughts on what happened and what we think is going to happen. If you’d like to join in next week’s post, you can submit your thoughts to me at [email protected] by 11:59 PM EST Tuesday.
Now that the spoiler warning is out of the way, let me introduce this weekly column in the form of my experience with the HBO anthology series and why I wanted to take the time to explore the new season on a weekly basis here on Cinapse. Season 3 was my introduction to the series and one hell of an introduction it was. With Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff in the lead roles, a great supporting cast featuring Carmen Ejogo, Scoot McNairy, and Ray Fisher, and the stellar direction of Jeremy Saulnier and Daniel Sackheim – the third season had a strong story, a ton of thrills, and served as a veritable acting clinic.
Only recently did I have the chance to dive into the previous seasons – the top notch inaugural season and the proceeding season that shall not be further mentioned due to massive disappointment. With the cast of this new season and a story that seems like it will follow the powerful format and concepts of the first and third, I was extremely excited for the launch of Night Country.
And – in my opinion – the premiere, thankfully, lived up to my expectations… and seemingly the expectations of this week’s guests. We’ll begin with their thoughts…
Sarah Jane
True Detective and I go way back. When the original series began airing back in the Winter of 2014, I was there with everyone else waiting for the next episode to air, impatient to get back to Detectives Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Hart (Woody Harrelson) and the unravelling of the unsolved crimes they were investigating. I was hooked from the get-go. Stellar work all around. I mean, people are still talking about that one shot. You know the one. When the newest season was announced, my husband and I were excited to know we were going to get a new story. While we did really enjoy seasons 2 and 3 (and don’t let anyone tell you those other seasons aren’t worth watching…they are), they haven’t been able to hit the heights of the original series yet.
The first episode of True Detective: Night Country definitely gave off a heavy Carpenter vibe. The show starts out with introducing us to a several men at the Tsalal Research Station in Alaska. Think The Thing but with nicer digs. Just as quickly as we meet the men, they just as quickly vanish. Danvers (Jodie Foster) is brought in to investigate. When word gets out of a tongue being found on the floor of the research station, former investigator turned regular trooper, Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), inserts herself into the case. She’s been haunted by an unsolved murder of an Iñupiat woman six years earlier. In that case, the woman’s tongue had been cut out. Was the tongue found on the floor of the Tsalal station the tongue from murder victim? I dunno but I sure as shit wanna find out.
(@FookThis on X)
I enjoyed this first episode. Happy to see Foster front and center, she’s always terrific. Whenever I see Fiona Shaw’s name in the credits, I know I’m going to see some great work. Reis is new to me but I thought she held her own with Foster and the rest of the case. Absolutely looking forward to seeing Christopher Eccleston soon, as well. I dig the setting of this series, for sure. I’m always fascinated with Alaska and its extended periods of darkness. I know those “chuds” out there are absolutely going to hate this show because 1) it’s helmed by a woman. 2) the two lead characters are women. 3) the show is featuring a culture that isn’t white. And 4) the show isn’t Season 1. Seriously, they’ve been big mad about seasons 2 and 3 of the show so giving them a new season where there are women and featuring a culture not their own? Forget it. They’re already over there trying to downvote the show. I am absolutely looking forward to watching what Issa López, the writers, and cast of the show are going to bring me each week. I hope you are, too.
Brad Milne
[As noted by Sarah], the fourth season of True Detective opens with an Inuit hunter sighting in on a lone bull elk, which while obviously CGI, is leaps and bounds better than previous CGI facsimiles of indigenous animals.
The story is concerned with the investigation of the death of a research team in Ennis, Alaska 117 miles north of the Arctic circle. The cops charged with answering the whodunnits, are played adeptly by Jodie Foster as Chief Liz Danvers, John Hawkes as Hank Prior, his son Peter played by Finn Bennett, and Alaska state Trooper Evangeline Navarro played with quiet intensity by Kali Reis. Of course the murder of the scientists is not of paramount importance to Navarro, who can’t help reopening the old wounds of a six year old cold case, that Danvers claims was murdered by the town of Ennis itself.
Of course, as this is only the first episode the investigation hasn’t gotten very far along, but it has done an excellent job of building the rapport among the characters. This season very much feels the most feminine of the four seasons. Reis and Foster are the engine that drives the action of the first episode. Issa Lopez is in control of this season, and like the singular director of Season One, Lopez seems possessed by a singular vision which I think is extremely helpful.
The fourth season’s opening episode also does an excellent job of grounding the series in a sense of place. You feel the Alaskan cold in your bones, the chill on the hoof falls of the elk heard charging away from the hunters scope, as the final sunset of the year descends. The snow a constant throughout the first episode, nothing in the location indicating a life of ease or comfort. You also feel the closeness of the community, of Ennis a place where everyone knows each other’s business. A place very clearly tied to one industry, in this case mining like lots of rural communities of the North.
I am excited to see where the dark path this season has started the viewer down ends up.
(@BradMilne79 on X)
Thanks to Brad and Sarah, most of my initial thoughts on this first episode of the new season are covered. A distinct Carpenter feel? Check. Excitement about getting to see the vision of Issa Lopez? Check. Seemingly more diversity than in previous seasons? Check. I am excited about all of the same things and my excitement that Jodie Foster is one of the leads cannot be overstated. She immediately commands the screen front he moment she steps in the frame, but she allows others to get their stuff in without her chewing up too much of the scenery or stepping on their toes. We all know how good she can be in a role like this, so it’s hard not to be at least a little jazzed for that.
The setting, the snowy town in Alaska, feels like a character itself. Not only does The Thing come to mind, but theres a distinct feel of a darker version of Northern Exposure’s Cicely or Fargo’s Fargo. The setting feels like it’s going to play a major role in this story as it unravels. Then there’s the tongue… finding a tongue feels awfully Lynchian – much like the ear in Blue Velvet. So many influences evident, but the story is clearly its own.
It’s too early to make too many predictions yet, but there’s certainly something going on with the Captain Prior (Hawkes). Perhaps he’s just a run-of-the-mill sexist who struggle taking orders from a woman, but there really seems to be something more sinister – or, at least, “shady” – going on with him. I’m also genuinely intrigued to see if there’s any real connection to other seasons, notably the first. Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle spent some time in a small Alaska town and at least one character in town was drinking “his” beer. Perhaps this is nothing more than a simple “Easter Egg”, but I’d love to see the show tie past seasons in with unique circumstances or worthwhile tie-ins. As far as everything else, I’m ready to just watch it play out.
Next Week’s Episode
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FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S: The Biggest Horror Film of 2023 Hits 4k UHD in the “Night Shift Edition”
When I first dug into Five Nights at Freddy’s it was far from becoming the little horror film that could. Released both for free on Peacock and in theaters, the modestly budgeted adaption of the survival horror game went on to become Blumhouse’s highest grossing film ever and now has folks rethinking how they approach pre-existing IPs and film adaptations. .B. J. Colangelo had a really great theory on TikTok about why the film did so well – because of how it so perfectly activated its hyper specific fandom, rather than attempting to go the more lucrative four quadrant route most films attempt. Except for some “activation” eye color drama, it was pretty clear this was a film for fans, by the properties original creator who was heavily involved in the project; which was the reason why the film took nearly a decade to finally hit theaters.
While I write this I just saw the sequel was announced for halloween next year and will promptly start shooting spring 2024.
How’s that for a weird little film about some killer animatronics?
The film itself is a rather faithful adaptation, albeit with one exception to the first game’s story and follows our faithful night security guard Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) who in order to keep custody of his younger autistic sister Abby (Piper Rubio) takes a job at the now defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza (Think a WAY creepier Chuck E Cheese). While he thinks he’s going to be keeping the riff raff out of the derelict property, he soon discovers he’s responsible for keeping the homicidal animatronics that come alive at night in. Abby, who’s a completely new character to this universe, works to not only infuse the film with some real stakes, but also gives the story a much needed heart. This is because Mike is understandably a rather scary, paranoid mess. He’s got a good heart, but he’s suffering from severe PTSD after witnessing the abduction of his younger brother as a child, and the resulting erratic behavior is only amplified by the fact that he’s hunted at night by a giant animatronic bunny.
I thought the choice to make Mike as vulnerable as he is, thanks to his past trauma, really set the stage for a more unconventional take on the story than you’d normally get from Blumhouse. But the thing that really stuck with me is his sister Abby and her arc. It’s something I’ve seen countless properties attempt, this sort of Amblin-esque, 80’s story that has the kids at the forefront. It wasn’t completely out of the norm for a horror film in the 80s to feature a kid protagonist and be targeted to that demo, but we live in VERY different times. I think the closest thing we’ve gotten to it before FNAF that worked as well as this did is Stranger Things. It’s because Abby is in this precarious position, we get to see Freddy and company through her eyes, and it’s something you don’t expect. You have these terrifying automatons having real moments of wonder with this young girl, and it’s downright wholesome. This perspective allows these creations to be viewed the same way they are by the property’s fans who collect countless figures and plushies based on their favorite of the game’s lineup.
The film just hit 4K UHD and the film just looks great. It’s really hard to appreciate how big the gap is between streaming 4K and actual disc spinning, physical media 4K until you’re watching a UHD. Personally I think 4K streaming looks more like a decent blu-ray and it’s not really as apparent until you’re trying to compare apples to apples with a film like this with a lot of really dimly lit scenes where those online algorithms can struggle with not turning into mashed potatoes, like Game of Thrones infamous Long Night episode. The disc really delivers the best possible presentation of the film with inky blacks and little to no compression artifacts in those super dark scenes.The neon lighting and the animatronics really pop with the HDR and it only makes these scenes look that much closer to the source. The only thing that for my money that would have made this presentation any better is more by the way of extras, there’s a few EPK’s, but no director’s commentary or anything else that digs into the mythology or the many unsuccessful attempts to bring this story to the silver screen.
I would have honestly LOVED a commentary with the games creator Scott Cawthon going through what the decade long process was like for him as a creator and his approach to the script.
Revisiting it for this review allowed me to really dig into the film’s subtext about the loss of innocence, which is the core theme that affects every character in the film. We have Mike who’s been broken since losing his brother, which shattered his childhood and led to his family’s dissolution, and Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) the policewoman who also grew up too soon. The animatronics – fans know, and we have Abby, who we witness having that surreal and scarring moment of loss when the animatronics eventually turn on her. This infuses the scares with some real honest to God stakes and you don’t get that often in horror. I was expecting spam in a pizza joint and what I got was a real movie that had some poignant things to say, WHILE also delivering some truly unnerving moments. Like I said, its wasnt the easy route by any means, but I am truly glad it worked and we will be getting more of it.
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Death and Other Details, Another Murder-Mystery, This Time With Mandy Patinkin as the “World’s Greatest Detective”
Note: Only eight out of the first season’s 10 episodes were made available to review.
Thanks, in no small part, to Rian Johnson’s one-two murder-mystery punch Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, we’re right smack in the middle of a new Golden Age for a century-old genre. Mixing ensemble-led performances, stylistic direction, and witty, sharply satirical scripts, Johnson’s contribution to the genre’s revival can’t — and shouldn’t — be underestimated. In quick succession, the genre has seen some of its best and/or most memorable contributions via film (Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot trilogy) and serialized storytelling on cable/streaming (A Murder at the End of the World, Only Murders in the Building, The White Lotus). Along with co-creator and star Natasha Lyonne, Johnson has revived old-school, Columbo-inspired mysteries with the recent Poker Face.
Describing Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole McAdams’s ten-episode murder-mystery thriller for Hulu, Death and Other Details, as either “best in class” or even “memorable” might be borderline hyperbolic. While, however, it doesn’t particularly stand out from an overcrowded field filled with similar narrative and thematic material, Death and Other Details rarely falters in delivering the surface-level thrills typical of the genre, the requisite twists, turns, and revelations stretched — sometimes admittedly too thinly — across ten sprawling, occasionally unfocused, water-treading episodes.
Death and Other Details centers on Imogene Scott (Violett Beane), an unambitious twenty-something who’s turned her near-lifelong relationship with the ultra-wealthy Collier family into a long-term gig. Orphaned as a preteen in a traumatic car explosion, the Colliers semi-adopted Imogene, the daughter of the patriarch’s executive secretary. They gave Imogene a roof over her head, clothes, and food. They also presumably provided Imogene with the best private education their guilt-ridden consciences could afford. Yet they never officially adopted Imogene and rather than bringing her into the family business fully, they’ve relegated her to a low-level marketing assistant.
All of that bitterness and resentment expresses itself in Imogene’s biting takedowns when no one’s listening and lining her pockets with trinkets or food. That bitterness and resentment also extend to Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin), the so-called “World’s Greatest Detective,” who, despite his level-best efforts, couldn’t solve the murder of Imogene’s mother. Two decades later, Imogene sees Cotesworth as just another feckless, ultimately useless adult, promising far more than he could ever deliver, guaranteeing disappointment and disillusionment.
That’s all backstory, however, to the murder that occurs near the end of the first episode. A classic locked-room mystery aboard a Mediterranean cruise liner expressly hired by the Colliers for a ten-day vacation, only the Colliers, their various hangers-on, including Imogene, and a contingent of Chinese businessmen and businesswomen led by Celia Chun (Lisa Lu) and her granddaughter, Karoline (Eleanor Chun). They’re onboard for the final negotiations that will make the Colliers and the Chuns business partners in the former’s stateside textile company. The murder of one of the passengers, of course, complicates matters.
With 10 episodes to fill, complications are the rule, not the exception, mostly of the personal kind. Karoline just happens to be the ex of Anna Collier (Lauren Patten), the soon-to-be-minted CEO of Collier Enterprises. Anna’s wife, Leila (Pardis Saremi), an ex-journalist, appears to suffer from mental health issues, specifically of the everything-is-a-conspiracy kind. Anna’s brother, Tripp (Jack Cutmore-Scott), fits into the familiar failson category. A serial substance abuser, Tripp spends most of his time on get-rich schemes and a potentially scandalous affair with Washington’s current governor, Alexandra (Tamberlay Perry). For her part, Alexandra’s relationship with Father Toby (Danny Johnson), a “political kingmaker,” seems fraught with dubious ethics and questionable legalities.
And that doesn’t include the patriarch and matriarch of the Collier family, Lawrence (David Marshall Grant) and Katherine (Jayne Atkinson). Like the over-ambitious, do-anything-to-get-ahead Anna and the perpetually embarrassing Tripp, Lawrence and Katherine are nothing if not familiar, wealthy, self-serving, conscience-free elitists. They even have a personal lawyer/fixit character, Llewellyn Mathers (Jere Burns), to clean up their frequent personal and professional messes. (Insert “eat-the-rich” commentary here.) They’re not, however, out-and-out hissable villains, at least not initially, defined more by their obvious cluelessness to the world around them than a deliberate desire to bring harm or injury to that same world.
With so many characters with so many hidden desires, secrets, and agendas, concentration is a must for anyone on the other side of the digital screen. Weiss and McAdams, understanding the limits of attention spans in the Social Media Age, repeat key exposition to ensure maximum retention, sometimes to the point of exhaustion and or (slight) annoyance. While presumably needed for attention-scattered audiences, the same exposition and/or backstory repeated five or six times can also begin to feel like time-padding or -wasting. For just one example, Weiss and McAdams replay the death of Imogene’s mother so often that it begins to feel, if not meaningless (details are added with every iteration), then less and less resonant emotionally.
Add to that interpersonal shipboard drama, starting, but not ending with the liner’s owner, Sunil (Rahul Kohli), his right-hand woman, Teddy (Angela Zhou), her younger sister, Winnie (Annie Q. Riegel), and the enigmatic security chief, Jules (Hugo Diego Garcia), and the how Death and Other Details somehow manages to squeeze 10 hours of material into a murder-mystery that probably could have been solved in half that time becomes somewhat clearer. Laying an overarching mystery involving a potentially super-powerful, Bond-style villain, “Victor Sams” (a pseudonym, of course), it becomes increasingly obvious Weiss and McAdams erred on the side of cramming every conceivable idea — and some inconceivable ones — to fill out the running time.
Death and Other Details premieres Tuesday, January 16th, with two episodes, followed by weekly installments and a two-episode finale on March 5th.
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THE RAID: REDEMPTION, a Modern Masterpiece, Gets a 4K UHD Upgrade
I saw The Raid: Redemption (henceforth called The Raid as that subtitle has never made sense) no less than 3 times in theaters and probably half a dozen times since. I’ve been an action movie junkie since my childhood, but this is a film that had a very personal impact on me at a very specific time in my life. I moved to Austin in 2010 to change careers and dive all in to the film industry as a totally green 30 year old. I’ve dabbled at the fringes of the Austin film community ever since and The Raid playing at South By Southwest 2012 was a mind blowing experience that focused my adult attentions on action cinema in a refreshed and invigorated way. The simultaneous rise of Scott Adkins as a DTV action hero for our era also played into all of this, but I’ve heavily concentrated my cinematic explorations around action cinema ever since Gareth Evans went to Indonesia and collaborated with Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian to create one of the greatest action films in the history of cinema.
You’ve got to use all the superlatives you can when the time is right. And heaping accolades upon The Raid is the correct response to experiencing The Raid. This was true in 20212 when it changed the global action cinema scene forever and is true today as the film continues to be a high watermark against which most any action epic worth its salt is measured.
Retaining every ounce of its grit and style and simplicity of concept executed with top notch filmmaking, The Raid remains supreme here in 2024, now upgraded to 4K UHD with a wholly new color correction overseen by Evans himself and presented with the option to watch with either the Indonesian or International musical score. These tantalizing features allowing audiences to experience the film in a new way were more than enough for me to be interested in reviewing this physical release and revisiting the film, and those components do prove to be a game changer. Neither the color correction or the score alter a single frame of the actual cut of the film, so all the plotting, rhythms, and set pieces remain masterful in whatever way you choose to watch the film today. I’d never seen The Raid with its original Indonesian score or with the new color correction, so that was the way I chose to watch when I first popped in the disc. In all honesty listening to the original score was a fascinating experience because I really didn’t mind the score at all and it’s pretty atmospheric and largely guitar-based. But that Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapenese score that I adore so much and had grown accustomed to was really notably missing for me. It’s a fascinating look into what the distributors who acquired the film for international distribution must have noticed at the time. The movie is a staggering achievement, but by bringing in a bolder, more beat-heavy score, the film achieves an iconic and masterful status that just isn’t quite there with the original score.
I also personally got excited when Evans mentioned he’d be doing a color correction. As sharp and confident as The Raid was at the time, the muted colors did always stand out to me and I vastly prefer this newly released correction. Granted, art is all subjective so many fans may prefer the Indonesian score or the original color grading. Now across a few different physical releases, fans can experience the film in almost any iteration they want to. And that’s the glory of this release.
Aside from all the bells and whistles of this new release, how does the film itself hold up?
The Raid only improves with repeat viewings. Yes, the plot is simple: Jakarta cops raid a criminal boss’s heavily manned tower block apartment complex and a floor by floor battle to the death ensues. Star Iko Uwais brought an incredible set of skills to the screen as a handsome and fresh-faced leading man with acting chops, on screen action refinement, and even action choreography behind the camera. Writer/Director Evans brought a commitment to building a hyper violent story that placed high quality action at the forefront to a meticulous degree. But ingeniously, that expertly executed action is never highlighted to the detriment of the perfectly balanced story. Iko’s Rama has a connection to someone on the inside, so there’s slowly revealed drama and pathos there, not to mention that he and his wife have a baby on the way so there’s something to fight for to get through this horrible day. Our elite team has some corruption in its ranks, so the political double crosses are worth paying attention to as the floor by floor bloodbath plays out. No moment in this tight script is wasted, no movement or interaction without intention. There’s even endless creativity in the use of an armored tower as largely the single setting of the story. Every single way a human body can either make its way up or down a level of a building will be explored in this tight runtime, with all the resulting bone crunching and bloodletting that entails.
The planets just aligned with The Raid. Something magic happened when Gareth Evans went to Indonesia, and action cinema fans have been chasing that high ever since, with The Raid becoming one of, if not the most, influential action film of this generation. Countries all over the world have since produced calling card action films of their own to share their native filmmaking talent with the global market. Evans, Uwais, and Indonesia as a whole have continued to be bedrock anchors of action filmmaking since the world changing release of this film. The Raid is a phenomenon that only comes along a time or two in any generation and changed the game both immediately upon release and still today over a decade later.
If you’re a longtime fan or being introduced for the first time, this 4K UHD release feels like the new definitive way to experience the film.
And I’m Out.
The Raid: Redemption hits 4K UHD Blu-ray Tuesday January 16th, 2024 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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BENEDETTA: Paul Verhoeven Retrospective [Two Cents]
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Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
The Pick: Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven Retrospective)
Cinapse is relaunching Two Cents for 2024 with a focus on cinematic discovery and discussion. This column is intended to generate points of connection as cinephiles revisit beloved classics or explore new territory together. We’ll kick things off with a curated month of Paul Verhoeven titles that our team was eager to either revisit or experience for the first time. After Ed’s Robocop revisit and Dan’s critique of Showgirls, Julian’s up to pay tribute to Verhoeven’s latest feature, Benedetta. Raved and reviled at international film festivals before bringing down the house at a Fantastic Fest Secret Screening in 2021, Benedetta has enjoyed no shortage of acclaim and controversy befitting its director’s fiendishly provocative filmography. Now hot off the heels of the announcement of Verhoeven’s latest project–the erotic political thriller Young Sinner–Julian and this week’s contributors return to 17th Century Italy to revisit a film that’s remained one of Julian’s modern icons of Queer cinema ever since that fateful 2021 screening.
The Team
Julian Singleton
What stood out to me in this rewatch of Benedetta is how delicately Verhoeven balances sincerity and sacrilege. Sure, there’s the lurid hook we’d expect from the director of Showgirls or Basic Instinct given in the film’s true story, depicting an illicit lesbian affair conducted amid a renaissance catholic church. However, it’s this pulpy jumping-off point that allows Verhoeven to explore the contradictions between holy lives and earthly delights in ways that still resound to modern audiences. Collar-clutching imagery abounds–from how Benedetta (Virginie Efira) and novice nun/lover Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia) fashion new uses for a Virgin Mary statue, to a sword-slinging Christ whose mortal form transcends more Church-sanctioned ideas of gender and virtue. The shock of this imagery–and Verhoeven’s unabashed embrace of it–provokes us to question why these elements have that repulsive power, and what forces instilled those beliefs in us.
The bastions of morality in Benedetta are anything but. Abbesses take gold donations to prioritize the salvation of “brides” offered to Christ and papal nuncios use judicial proceedings to ensure a patriarchal status quo. When miracles come, be them easily explained or truly mystifying, there’s barely a beat before the powers that be find ways to monetize and exploit them. And if a woman dares challenge the authority of the Church–be it by her miracles or her choice of partner–she is quickly met with silencing torture, subjugation, or being ostracized. The lesbian romance at the core of Benedetta may be criminal in the eyes of the Church– but becomes something to champion in the face of such moral hypocrisy. In a world where women’s agency is reduced to motherhood or convent life, embracing fervent Queerness in the midst of seizing influence from diabolically patriarchal forces is justifiably seen as the most effective act of rebellion possible.
At the same time, Verhoeven maturely refuses to confirm or deny the truth behind Benedetta’s visions and miracles. Did this woman earnestly experience religious epiphanies, seemingly confirming the existence (and by extension authority) of the Holy Trinity? Did she merely use this iconography to seize a power afforded to few other women? Or is it a mixture of both, with Benedetta dovetailing belief and desire to enact powerful change? To Verhoeven, proclaiming one truth over another would be to assume the same authority as the villains of Benedetta–with individual choice and belief paramount over everything else.
Benedetta is a film of provocative delight, lampooning the organizations we deem worthy of protecting faith while reverently respecting the very human craving to believe in something divine–or something far more debased.
(@Gambit1138 on X)Justin Harlan
It’s a well known fact in the world of Cinapse that I’m the weirdo around here. I like shitty genre films unironically and rarely enjoy the awards circuit fare. Even fellow weirdos like Dan at least enjoy the Oscar bait, but not I. Sure Oppenheimer looks good, but I’d much rather spend my night watching a 90s SOV flick or some random found footage flick on Tubi.
I present this to explain where I’m coming from when I tell you that – to me – Benedetta is “Nunsploitation for Normies”. Having watched numerous lesbian themed exploitation films over the years and a variety of salacious Nunsploitation “classics”, I can’t help but feel like the majority of Benedetta feels like Verhoeven making such a film that can capture a wider audience than most films in this subgenre. So, while it’s still clearly not for everyone, it’s surely going to be a bit more accessible than The Devils or Alucarda.
Naturally, the moments in this film I enjoy most are intense sex scenes and the more off the wall moments. If I could get more graphic sex and sword wielding Jesus dream sequences, I’d be fully in… but as it stands, I dig this film but vastly prefer the less accessible and more scandalous exploitation gems in the Nunsploitation subgenre.
That said, if you want to dip your toe into the world of Nunsploitation but aren’t yet ready for the notorious “Rape of Christ” just yet, this is a great place to start.
(@thepaintedman on X)Our Guests
Emma:
Nearly three years removed from its Cannes premiere, Paul Verhoeven’s ludicrous lesbian epic Benedetta is situated comfortably in the S-tier of the Dutch provocateur’s filmography. Deftly juggling a wide array of tones, the film is as recognizably a work from the director of the harrowing Black Book as it is from the man responsible for Showgirls, the now-vindicated satire of American sexual mores. Perhaps what truly elevates Benedetta is its disarming sincerity. Though engaging in some heretical behavior (the softcore scene with the Virgin Mary dildo feels straight out of The Devils), the sapphic nun at the center of the film (brought to life so gracefully by Virginie Efira) is genuine in her religious devotion and a far more authentic follower of Christian teachings than the hypocrites in the film, or those of today’s world for that matter. A movie with CGI Jesus action sequences and a pooping lesbian nun meet-cute is clearly intending to shock, yet both Benedetta Carlini and the film bearing her name display tenderness and love as well. Somewhere between Dreyer and Ken Russell, this brazen piece of auteurism finds its salvation at the junction where the sacred meets the profane.
(@FilmEmmaJames on Instagram)
Benedetta Related Writing on Cinapse
By Julian Singleton
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Criterion Review: DAYS OF HEAVEN [4K-UHD]
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Terrence Malick’s epic of human nature majestically returns to the Criterion Collection
Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and WordPress’s image system.
From Badlands to The Tree of Life and beyond, Terrence Malick’s cinema eschews typical narrative storytelling for a non-linear, cosmic mode that’s more experiential than experimental. His characters’ identities are derived from near-wordless snapshots of existence, juxtaposed against the beautiful fury of the natural world surrounding them. Breaking free from the modern world and modern storytelling, the characters of Malick’s films yearn for something beyond their material grasp, whether it’s love, fulfillment, or something closer to divine understanding. Through each film’s masterful editing, there’s a permanent metaphysical connection between the characters and the environment, every torrential rainstorm a manifestation of the whirlwind of emotions within them. Their inner search for meaning is reflected in the wild and wonderful world they call home–where every moment, as fleeting as they may be, takes on such a deep cosmic significance.
Set in the mid-1910s, Days of Heaven follows lovers Bill (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams), as well as Bill’s little sister Linda (Linda Manz) as impoverished Americans forced to flee the slums of Chicago after Bill causes a tragic accident. Their refuge: the sprawling wheat fields of the Texas Panhandle, where a wealthy Farmer (Sam Shepherd) hires the trio to work the fields for the season. Amid the shifting seasons and stellar magic-hour sunsets, a love triangle develops between Bill, Abby, and the Farmer; when the Farmer receives a terminal diagnosis, Bill sees an opportunity for he and his family to profit from the Farmer’s affections. Winds and rain whip through the fields as the couples grow closer and apart, building to an apocalyptic conclusion of murder, locusts, and raging fires.
No film of Terrence Malick’s reflects this unbreakable bond between humans and nature more than Days of Heaven, and it’s the wonder with which Linda (and Malick, by extension) views this ragingly romantic world that puts Days of Heaven in serious contention for my all-time favorite Malick film. It’s an epic love story written in wind and fire across the fields of pre-World War I Texas, where intrigue and heartbreak manifest in stunning sunsets and swarms of locusts. Across 94 spare minutes and a dreamlike yet down-to-earth VoiceOver by young Linda, seasons and memories flash by, making this love story feel both gargantuan and insignificant all at once. While films like The Thin Red Line or The New World pit people against nature as much as against each other, Days of Heaven finds an indelible, intimate connection between the volatility of both emotions and environment in such unmatched, searingly cinematic scope.
Days of Heaven was the first entry of what has become a legendary partnership between the Criterion Collection and Terrence Malick–under Malick’s careful supervision, Criterion has released the famed auteur’s first five features in impeccable deluxe editions, allowing viewers a rare glimpse into the construction of films that are almost impossible to describe. Briefly out of print after a rights shakeup by Paramount, Days of Heaven has made a resounding return to Criterion with a new 4K restoration–and it seems almost kismet that Days of Heaven is also the first Criterion Malick title to receive the UHD treatment. With 2017’s (personally beloved) Song to Song as the only other Terrence Malick film on UHD via the now-defunct Broad Green Pictures, here’s hoping the rest of Malick’s filmography won’t be too far behind.
Video/Audio
For this 4K restoration, Days of Heaven is presented in Malick’s preferred aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on the UHD disc, created from the original 35mm negative and supervised by Malick, camera operator John Bailey, and editor Billy Weber. The feature is presented in 4K Dolby Vision HDR on the UHD, with an included 5.1-Channel surround track restored from the original 4.1 magnetic track. The included Blu-ray, ported from Criterion’s 2010 release, presents the feature in its previous HD restoration in 1.78:1, with a 5.1-Channel track. English SDH subtitles are provided for the feature film.
It’s always exciting when a transfer of a Malick film manages to outpace previous releases–and in the case of Days of Heaven, Criterion utilizes the expansive capabilities of an HDR pass to bring Malick’s sophomore feature to life in stunning new ways. Stalks of wheat retain individual clarity even as they swirl together en masse, and the painterly palette of the film’s jaw-dropping sunsets reveals a greater nuance across the color spectrum. Night sequences, notably a celebratory bonfire and the more incendiary climax, have little to no banding or black crush, instead retaining a healthy amount of film grain that doesn’t detach from the depth of the darkness captured. The audio track is further refined from the already-stellar mix on the 2010 Blu-ray, placing Ennio Morricone’s lush, Saint-Saëns-inspired score and Linda Manz’s rustic and whimsical VoiceOver front and center. Malick’s worlds never leave room for unearthly silence–and the rush of wind and chirrup of field animals is richly layered amid the visuals.
Special Features
Criterion has included all of their Special Features on the accompanying Blu-ray, which is a direct reproduction of their original 2010 release of Days of Heaven. The commentary is present on both the 4K UHD and the Blu-ray release.
- Audio Commentary recorded in 2007 by Criterion, featuring production designer Jack Fisk, editor Billy Weber, costume designer Patricia Norris, and casting director Diane Crittenden. The short yet impactful track is filled with candid recollections of the lengthy shoot that was both rigorously planned and notoriously on the fly, as cast and crew waited hours for fleeting magic-hour shooting windows, pages of dialogue were cast aside, and shooting styles became more experimental and improvisational to capture the film’s ephemeral, timeless quality.
- Interviews: Utilizing an audio interview with Richard Gere in 2007 and an interview with Sam Shepherd from 2002, the pair of actors reminisce on their experiences working with Malick.
- John Bailey/Haskell Wexler: Archival 2007 interviews with Days of Heaven’s camera operator and legendary second-unit cinematographer, whose nature shots would eventually overtake first-unit main footage by Nestor Almendros once Almendros left production (Almendros would eventually win an Oscar for the film).
- Booklet: Reprinted from the 2010 edition, this booklet includes an essay by Adrian Martin, as well as a reproduction of extracts from Nestor Almendros’ autobiography “A Man With a Camera,” discussing the production of Days of Heaven.
Days of Heaven is now available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
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THE BEEKEEPER Gives Jason Statham One of His Best Action Roles in Years
There’s one and only one reason for watching the latest Jason Statham actioner, The Beekeeper, and it doesn’t involve chewing gum or chewing Flintstones vitamins. It also doesn’t involve and/or include Kurt Wimmer’s (Point Break, Total Recall, Equilibrium) semi-ambitious, punch-pulling screenplay or David Ayer’s (Suicide Squad, Sabotage, End of Watch) passably competent direction of the non-action scenes. It comes down to action-star Statham, a reserved, stoic performer known less for his ability to deliver his lines convincingly and more — much more — for his singular ability to kick, punch, and stomp all manner and kinds of rear, usually, but not limited to, interchangeable thugs and/or masked henchmen without breaking a sweat or losing his tight-fitting sports cap or purely functional chapeau.
When we first meet Statham’s generically named character, Adam Clay, he’s removing an existential threat with extreme prejudice. That threat, though, isn’t human. It’s a hornet’s nest situated far too close to the bee hives Clay keeps. His kind, caring, somewhat naive landlord, Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), asks about their fate, but Clay, recognizing Eloise’s empathetic nature, demurs. That, in turn, leads to Clay disposing of the hornet’s nest in the next scene, leaving no doubt as to Clay’s willingness to act when needed, saving his bee hives from said threat, and respecting Eloise’s feelings in the process.
Of course, Clay is no simple or ordinary beekeeper. While he may be, in fact, an expert beekeeper monastically dedicated to maintaining the safety and security of his bee hives, he’s also a “retired” ex-government operative. As one character, Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons), an ex-CIA Director turned corporate CEO, tells another soon-to-be dispatched character, Clay isn’t just a “tier-1” SEAL Team level operative. As he proves repeatedly via bone-crunching, sinew-shredding, head-imploding encounters with whatever — and whomever — he encounters, he’s practically a Terminator (minus the cybernetic enhancements), a combination of lethal, brute force, highly honed skills (of the killing kind), and practically near-genius strategy- and tactic-wise.
Spurred into a righteous rampage of revenge by a phishing scam that cleans out Eloise’s bank accounts and retirement savings, Clay starts his mission of vengeance and retribution with the innocuously named United Data Corp., a center, one of among many, boiler room-type, conscience-free felons whose only goal involves separating the elderly and other easily scammed people from their hard-earned savings. Anyone in or around the center doesn’t stand a chance against Clay, but that doesn’t stop them from trying and subsequently dying.
The Beekeeper cross-cuts between Clay’s videogame-style progress, steadily moving up the chain of command to the Big Boss, and Eloise’s daughter, Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), an FBI agent, and her partner, Agent Matt Wiley (Bobby Naderi). Not surprisingly, Verona and Matt are always a step behind Clay. Even when they unearth his identity as a titular Beekeeper, an off-book team of extra-judicial government ops who, by every in-film description and action, bring “balance” back to an undefined system (presumably democracy, capitalism, or democratic capitalism). Also, he has a hive to protect and we’re that hive.
Wimmer’s screenplay peppers the dialogue with extensive bee metaphors, up to and including a line about a so-called “queen slayer” that hints at a potentially risky, divisive development once the second act begins to take shape. That The Beekeeper doesn’t go there, instead choosing the path of least resistance isn’t surprising. It should be expected from a mid-budget film aimed squarely at action-oriented audiences across the political spectrum.
While it’s still disappointing that The Beekeeper’s jaundiced view of American politics doesn’t bear poisoned fruit, story, themes, and ideas remain secondary to Statham doing what he does best: Mowing down hordes of disposable henchmen — with special care given to government agents (beaten to varying levels of indistinguishable pulp, but not permanently dispatched to the next world) — while rarely breaking a sweat, bleeding, or otherwise being inconvenienced by the bodies or bullets flying in his general direction. Only once does Statham’s character meet a near-equal who can possibly beat him. Unfortunately, it’s long on breaking glass and furniture and short on running time.
For all its shortcomings, The Beekeeper delivers one well-choreographed set piece after another. Ayer receives credit as director, but it’s action director/stunt choreographer Jeremy Marinas and his team over at 87Eleven — the same team behind the John Wick films (among others) — who excel every time they’re needed to elevate The Beekeeper from a mid-budget actioner and star vehicle to something altogether better, finer, and far more memorable than any description could adequately capture.
The Beekeeper opens Friday, January 12th, via Amazon MGM Studios.
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MEAN GIRLS is a Rote Remix of the Original
A lively but lacking adaptation of the musical version of Tina Fey’s revered and referential comedy from 2004
Aside from TV shows and a smattering of SNL skits, it’s surprising to think that Tina Fey hasn’t penned a feature film since 2004’s Mean Girls. A sharp, incisive high-school comedy, that took tackled themes of insecurity, bullying, sexuality, misogyny, and sisterhood. Entrenched in pop culture, its sustained success led to a move to the stage in 2017, with Mean Girls the Musical. Things now come full circle as this all singing and dancing verison of the film has found its way onto the big screen in a new adaptation. A modern day take on Fey’s film that comes with as many missteps as it does medleys.
The plot is all too familiar, as Cady Heron (Angourie Rice, The Nice Guys) leaves behind homeschooling in Kenya for the wilds of high school in California. Taken under the wing of the (now) out and proud pairing of Janis (a stellar Auliʻi Cravalho, Moana) and Damian (the joyful Jaquel Spivey) she starts to understand the ins and outs of this community and the various castes within, just in time for Queen Bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) to swoop in and fold Cady into her group. Alongside Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood) and Karen Shetty (Avantika Vandanapu), these “plastics” dominate the social scene, and are as worshipped as they are feared. When Cady falls for her calculus classmate (and Regina’s ex) Aaron (Christopher Briney) and becomes more aware of the toxic nature of the trio, she joins Janis and Damian in an effort to knock Regina off her pedestal. But, as Cady becomes more immersed in the scheme, and starts to lose herself to the plastics and their way of thinking.
So far so familiar. The most notable changes come in terms of the cast and the musical interludes, composed by Jeff Richmond. with lyrics by Nell Benjamin. Mostly catchy and amusing tunes that help propel things along. Cravalho and Rapp belt out some of the more impactful numbers with gusto, while other songs feel a little weak and generic, with the clarity of lyrics often lost. Co-directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. have a background in music videos, and at times the energy and composition from that comes through. But the integration of these musical numbers isn’t always so smooth, and their purpose seem largely to serve as exposition or highlighting emotional responses. Something the original was far more effective at doing with far less effort.
Rice is certainly an empathetic presence at the film’s center, and forms a delightful trio with the barnstorming Auliʻi Cravalho and joyful Jaquel Spivey. The latter pair are a highlight of the film, often breaking the fourth wall to serve as narrators. Beyond this, chemistry is notably absent, especially in between love interests Cady and Aaron (Briney feeling out of place and given little material to endear himself). Each of the plastics try their best to put a slightly different spin on the characters they inhabit, but it’s only Rapp that really stands out, largely due to her singing chops and a portrayal of Regina in the last act that tilts toward a more goofy tone. The supporting cast includes a wealth of talent, including the returning Fey, Ashley Park, Jon Hamm, and Tim Meadows, but all of them feel grossly underutilized.
Some of the promotional materials come with the tagline “This isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls.” But, it fundamentally is. Despite nearly 20 years, and the addition of a series of musical numbers, the plot points, character cores, and themes tackled are the same. Aside from some updated pop culture references and some self-referential jokes, much of the dialogue is lifted verbatim. There is obviously some leeway here to forgive the film retreading such familiar ground. It’s not billed as a remake, it’s an adaptation of a musical reworking of the original. So it doesn’t represent a deliberate reworking. Even so, it all feels like a missed opportunity to update the story and reflect on the progress, or lack thereof, since the early 2000s. The players assembled certainly look and feel more naturally representative of what you’d see in a current day classroom. Social media is carefully infused, which makes for a less intrusive aspect of the film, but feels like is understates its prominence within teenagers lives. What’s most apparent is how the meanness and manipulation of the film is somewhat neutered. “Regina George is a fugly cow” instead of “fugly slut” for instance. Other secrets shared or pulled from the Burn Book feel more played for laughs, than draw on genuine insecurities. The word “fat” doesn’t even play in to the plot to ply George’s diet with protein bars. Maybe that lack of bullying and snark is showcasing a reflection of some social progress, which we can hope for. But, in terms of entertainment value, it means Mean Girls ’24 loses an edge and makes less of an impact.
If this is your first outing with Mean Girls, you’ll likely enjoy what you see. A lively venture that showcases a relatable plot and characters, and delivers some standout musical pieces. But, Mean Girls ’24 is essentially a remix of the original. The notes are the same, it’s just how loud they’re being played that differs. It also lacks the sharp, incisive wit of the first, as well as that little sprinkling of stardust amongst the cast that has made it stand the test of time. It’s a shame that the minds behind this version didn’t take the opportunity to truly reimagine the story for the modern age and possibly craft another comedy landmark.
