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MEAN GIRLS (2023)

What You Need To Know:

MEAN GIRLS is a movie version of the Broadway musical comedy written by SNL alumnus Tina Fay based on her 2004 movie. In the story, Cady, a 16-year-old homeschooled American girl living in Kenya returns to the States to attend a cliquish high school. Cady finds herself getting involved in an A-list clique of three girls, led by a mean girl named Regina. She makes a mistake falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron. When Regina finds out, she makes a special point of winning back Aaron’s affections. Cady’s art student friend urges her to get revenge on Regina by ruining her reputation.

The musical movie version of MEAN GIRLS is pretty entertaining. It also some great songs and fun choreography. The movie’s resolution includes a positive redemptive message about being honest with other people without being cruel. However, some of the lyrics are hard to hear. Also, MEAN GIRLS has a strong, godless Non-Christian Romantic worldview with pro-homosexual content, a racist attitude toward black men, foul language, and underage alcohol use. So, the movie is excessive and unacceptable according to MOVIEGUIDE®’s biblical standards.

Content:

(RoRo, HoHo, C, B, LL, V, SS, N, AA, DD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong Romantic worldview with pro-homosexual content/messages, mitigated by redemptive, morally uplifting content and values such as repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the main message at the end urges being honest with other people without being cruel;

Foul Language:
Nine obscenities (two “s” words and a few “b” words) and 10 light profanities, plus a few insults like the word “slut” is used, and a girl says another girl has hair on part of her chest;

Violence:
High school students act like animals in musical number (the number is developing a metaphor depicting high school as a bit of a zoo because of all the teenagers), teenage girl almost hit by a school bus, another teenager girls is hit by a school bus (the impact is not shown, but she has to wear a back brace after recovering), teenage boy deliberately breaks a vase in someone else’s house, and teenage girl falls down hard while performing a musical number for the school talent show;

Sex:
Two or so teenage homosexual kisses and holding hands and dancing, several teenage heterosexual kisses, health teacher tells students they’ll be handing out condoms in the spring after teaching sexual abstinence earlier in the school year, teenagers flirt at party, at least two references to a teenage girl losing her virginity 11 times, and other brief sexual comments;

Nudity:
Upper male nudity in two scenes, and some teenage female cleavage especially in one musical dance number;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
No smoking or drug use, but one character makes a comical quip about doing drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Teenage girls write down mean things about other teenage girls in a “Burn Book,” high school girls are manipulative and deceitful with other students, lying, betrayal, miscellaneous insults, lead female character connives with two other characters to ruin a mean girl’s reputation out of revenge and the victim does the same thing in reverse when she learns about the plan, but all of these things are eventually rebuked.

More Detail:

MEAN GIRLS is a movie version of the Broadway musical comedy written by SNL alumnus Tina Fay based on her 2004 movie about a new girl at a cliquish high school who gets too wrapped up in the underhanded machinations of the three most popular girls on campus. MEAN GIRLS has some great music and a positive redemptive message about being honest with other people without being cruel, but the movie has a strong, godless non-Christian Romantic worldview with pro-homosexual content, a racist attitude toward black men, foul language, and underage alcohol use.

The movie opens in Kenya where 16-year-old Cady is upset that her single mother has decided to take a college job in the United States. Cady resigns herself to her fate, however. So, on the first day of school, she sings hopefully about the future.

However, Cady runs into a couple mean comments. She’s also bewildered by all the different high school cliques, especially the difficulties of finding a seat at lunch.

Two outsiders befriend Cady, a large effeminate black guy and a lesbian art student, Damien and Janis. They introduce Cady to all the different cliques. They also tell her to stay away from the three most popular girls in school, who they call the Plastics, because they are so fake and hard. The Queen Bee of this clique is a girl named Regina George. Regina enters the lunchroom singing a song touting her amazing talents and beauty.

Unexpectedly, Regina invites Cady to have lunch with her and her friends Karen and Gretchen. Cady naively agrees, even though Janis tells her to beware. Regina explains some of the rules of the group to Cady. Cady goes along with them, because she finds the rules bewildering.

Cady tries to be friends with Regina as well as Damien and Janis, but she makes the mistake of becoming attracted to Regina’s handsome ex-boyfriend, Aaron. When Regina finds out, she turns the tables on Cady and wins back Aaron.

Janis suggests to Cady ways that Cady can ruin Regina’s reputation. When they fail, Cady realizes how badly Regina treats her friend, Gretchen. She manipulates Gretchen to tell her some secrets about Regina, which give Cady a foolroof way to hurt Regina the most.

The musical movie version of MEAN GIRLS is pretty entertaining. It also has some great songs and fun choreography. The movie’s resolution of the plot problem includes a positive redemptive message about being honest with other people without being cruel. You don’t want to call someone fat to their face, for instance, though you might want to tell them they need to lose some weight, especially if you can help them lose those extra pounds.

However, as with many new musicals these days, some of the lyrics are drowned out by the loud music and by bad pronunciation. That wasn’t the case with the old Hollywood musicals featuring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and other stars of yesteryear. This is really a shame, as well as annoying.

Also, like the original 2004 movie, MEAN GIRLS has a strong, godless non-Christian Romantic worldview. Thus, although the movie implies there’s a sinful and hateful mean streak in everyone, it also says that people are mostly innocent and can be oppressed and corrupted by the social milieu around them. In addition, MEAN GIRLS has strong pro-homosexual content, a racist attitude toward black men, plenty of foul language and underage alcohol use during teenage party scenes.

So, MOVIEGUIDE® finds the MEAN GIRLS musical to be ultimately excessive and unacceptable.


Watch MEAN GIRLS (2023)
Quality: - Content: -3
Watch MEAN GIRLS (2023)
Quality: - Content: -3