How Does the New Mean Girls Stack Up Against the Original? We Graded Each One.

Mean Girls is back, 20 years after the original film became such a pop-culture touchstone that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who couldn’t answer the question On what day of the week do we wear pink? The new film is not a simple remake, but rather, an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical. Though both are from comedian Tina Fey, 2024’s tuneful, Gen Z rendition of the millennial classic promises, at least in promotional materials, that it “isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls.” (Mother?! That math doesn’t add up.) So, just how well does the new film stack up against the 2004 cult favorite? Grab your JanSport and write down your locker code number because we’re handing out report cards to the students of North Shore High School.

OG Mean Girls: Rachel McAdams created one of the most iconic film characters of a generation. There was no one who fit the title of queen bee better, no one as towering, conniving, and genuinely frightening as Regina George. Ms. McAdams, we salute you ad infinitum. A+

New Mean Girls: Reneé Rapp, the unmitigated star of the new film, is an incredible musical Regina. The Sex Lives of College Girls actor, who played Regina on Broadway, serves not only the vocals but also the charm, the humor, the sexiness, and, of course, the bitchiness. But through no fault of Rapp’s own, the film decides to take Regina in a softer direction as the story pans out, which is unsatisfactory, given the purpose of the character. We like that Regina’s bitchy! Let’s keep her that way. A

OG Mean Girls: Lindsay Lohan’s Cady might not be as noteworthy as McAdams’ Regina, but she embodied the character perfectly. She’s a complete normie—albeit of the “you don’t know you’re beautiful, and that’s what makes you beautiful” variety—when the film begins but evolves into someone capable of pulling off a pecking-order coup after having learned from the best herself. Lohan remains magnetic enough that you understand why everyone at North Shore, from the Mathletes to Aaron Samuels, seems to be drawn to her. Also, her delivery of grool is painfully relatable. A

New Mean Girls: Angourie Rice is fine, but Cady needs to be more than fine! It doesn’t help that in this musical adaptation, Cady’s songs are nowhere near the quality of Regina’s. I cared much more about the revolving door of characters around Cady than the Kenyan-raised girl herself. C–

OG Mean Girls: From “Danny DeVito, I love your work!” to “Boo, you whore,” the movie is a treasure trove of hilarious snark. A

New Mean Girls: The updated Mean Girls is a solidly funny film! While it sometimes overindulges in trying to be relevant to zoomers, that occasionally pays off with actual good jokes—like the quip about the “Vegan-Confident Joannes” alternative to Sloppy Joes. However, the film overall does lose a few points for humor, as plenty of the best jokes are merely regurgitations of the best ones from the original. C

OG Mean Girls: The looks are iconic and timeless. A

New Mean Girls: The trailer for the film caught a lot of heat from fans who mocked the costuming, joking that it looked like the Plastics shopped online at cheap fast-fashion sites like Shein. I was more concerned that there doesn’t seem to be a single faculty member of North Shore High who gives a lick about a dress code, to a sometimes-distracting degree. C+

OG Mean Girls: Lindsay Lohan has given us enough musicals for a lifetime. This film let her rest, and for that we must be thankful. Grade cannot be found.

New Mean Girls: Look, is the original music from the stage production good? Not really. Is it rendered well on screen? Also no. Did some audiences apparently audibly groan when musical numbers kicked off, after trailers conveniently concealed the fact that there is singing and dancing in this film? Sure. But are the songs so cringey that you can’t help but laugh to the point where it becomes enjoyable again? Yes, indeed! Some numbers actually do work, though, like “World Burn” or “Someone Gets Hurt,” which are staged within dream sequences. C–

OG Mean Girls: Amanda Seyfried delivered a joke about ESP(N) so well that it stands the test of time. A

New Mean Girls: Whether she’s calling basic algebraic equations “unknowable” or using grilled cheese grease as a makeup highlighter, the actress Avantika, playing Karen with an updated surname, was one of the charming standouts of this musical romp. A+

OG Mean Girls: In Lacey Chabert we trust! Who else could deliver this monologue about stabbing Caesar with the explosion of pent-up rage that she does? B

New Mean Girls: Bebe Wood did the best with what she was given, but our Toaster Strudel heiress didn’t deserve the worst song and direction in the film. Also, apparently in this version she’s no longer a Toaster Strudel heiress? Heresy! D

OG Mean Girls: Jonathan Bennett succeeded at his best airhead-hottie impression, for which he was rewarded with a lifelong career of hosting Food Network shows and the Times Square ball drop. B

New Mean Girls: Don’t get me wrong, Chris Briney is great, and I love him in The Summer I Turned Pretty, but he’s too nice to be Aaron Samuels, who is supposed to be a clueless, traditionally Herculean hunk with a tendency toward prickish behavior. Though maybe the long, windswept hair and the kind eyes are what Gen Z wants? D+

OG Mean Girls: Damian (Daniel Franzese) and Janis (Lizzy Caplan) are so hilariously unhinged in the original. Their character introductions—with Damian pulling Cady’s hair to his head, saying, “See? This is the color I want,” and Janis introducing him as “too gay to function”—are a couple of the decade’s better ones. A

New Mean Girls: This Damian (Jaquel Spivey) and Janis (Auliʻi Cravalho) were funny, sounded great, and brought the energy needed. Also, Janis’ art is actually … good? An extra point for that! B+

OG Mean Girls: You could not convince me that Rachel McAdams had stepped foot in a high school in the past five to seven years. F

New Mean Girls: Actually young-looking, appropriately awkward, with a diverse range of bodies? The CW could never! B–

OG Mean Girls: The bitchy satire and perfectly tuned escalation of absurdity in this film cemented it as a campy classic. A

New Mean Girls: It’s too earnest! F

OG Mean Girls: Amy Poehler has so many unforgettable moments—the rock-hard fake boobs!—in the 2004 original that they’ve been inducted into the halls of Meme History fame for all time. A+

New Mean Girls: Busy Philipps perfectly takes over Poehler’s role as Regina’s “cool mom.” She’s in the movie for only a couple of minutes, but they’re great ones! A+

OG Mean Girls: The satire, the mall, the iconic four-way-call: What more could you ask for? This film perfectly distilled the essence of millennial culture for generations to come. B+

New Mean Girls: Sometimes the obvious and intentional reorienting toward Gen Z veers into cheesy territory, but the period-appropriate clothing style, social media usage, and references are there. I won’t spoil one of the best jokes, which involves Damian’s talent show performance, but it’s a perfectly executed nod to Gen Z. B–

OG Mean Girls: The “Jingle Bell Rock” performance, the Kevin G. rap—it’s a Christmas miracle. B

New Mean Girls: Though enjoyable, the rendition of “Rockin’ Around the Pole” didn’t leave nearly as strong a mark as the original performance of “Jingle Bell Rock.” Thankfully, the aforementioned Damian joke makes up for it. However, Kevin G.’s rap is just OK. C

OG Mean Girls: Unsurprisingly, for an early 2000s movie about popular high school girls, Mean Girls is incredibly white and incredibly thin. Of course, there’s still some diversity, especially where Janis, Damian, and Kevin G. are concerned. However, you’ll notice that, for good reason, the updated version cut moments like the Cool Asians clique, Trang Pak’s sexual relations with Coach Carr, and the joke about Janis being Lebanese/a lesbian. D

New Mean Girls: In addition to incorporating Black, South Asian, and Polynesian actors into the main cast, the film does a much better job than the original at representing a whole host of body types. Plus, in this film, Janis is actually a lesbian. However, sometimes the diversity feels hilariously shoehorned in, like when Cuban American actor Bebe Wood offhandedly mentions she has an abuelita right before she launches into song. That is so not fetch. A–

OG Mean Girls: Funny and integral to the Mean Girls Cinematic Universe. A+

New Mean Girls: Still present. I said what I said! A+

OG Mean Girls: The beauty of Mean Girls is that, even though “Girl World was at peace” at the end, the movie stuck to its guns. It was full of nasty, catty girl fighting, evil plotting, and patriarchal woes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The message isn’t necessarily “mean girls are fun,” but rather: Every Regina George is actually a Cady Heron deep down, and therefore, every Cady Heron can become a Regina George. But still, the film is fun because it’s mean! The message is clear without a preamble about treating each other with kindness and respect. B+

New Mean Girls: The problem here is that the film tries too hard to be empowering. It doesn’t retain the cutthroat humor that the original possessed, instead reminding us all toward the end to be nice to each other? Blegh. C

OG Mean Girls: Undoubtedly, Mean Girls is one of the most well-known films of the 2000s. It sustained multiple generations of jokes, quotes, and references that are known globally. A+

New Mean Girls: Unfortunately, as fun as the new Mean Girls is, most of it is unmemorable compared with the original. Them’s the breaks, I guess. D