High school satire for the TikTok generation

New take 'Mean Girls' has barely changed from original film, but it has an exuberant young cast and updated tech

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Mean Girls

★★★ (out of 4) 

Starring Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli'i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows and Jon Hamm. Written by Tina Fey. Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. Opens Friday in theatres everywhere, with Thursday previews. 112 minutes. PG

PETER HOWELL

MOVIE CRITIC

The musical version of "Mean Girls" has been adapted for the big screen and it's not just "fetch," to use the teen comedy's "cool" synonym that's still trying to happen.

It also feels surprisingly fresh, no mean feat for a property that is now 20 years old. It's even longer than that if you include Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 parental advice bestseller, "Queen Bees and Wannabes," which inspired Tina Fey's original screenplay and the more recent Tony-nominated Broadway song-and-dance extravaganza.

This newish take on the classic high-school-as-jungle satire makes the trek from film to stage and back to film again without forsaking comic snideness or draining an ounce of hormonal energy. It's "Mean Girls" for the TikTok generation, cleverly incorporating social media into its swirl of teen obsessions and anxieties.

Much credit goes to the exuberance of the mostly young and new cast members, most of whom have the pipes to handle and even exceed the workmanlike stage tunes composed by Jeff Richmond and written by Nell Benjamin.