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From: Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-03-08 (Friday)
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2024 13:14:40 -0700
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On 3/10/2024 12:02 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> In article <usi624$2e711$1@dont-email.me>,
>   "Ian J. Ball" <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> On 3/9/24 8:38 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>
>>> What Did You Watch?
> 
>> Mean Girls (2024) (Pee+) - In (glorious?) 4k - another movie that
>> benefited not at all from being 4k


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

  (because of the way it was filmed
>> (hell, the movie I watched after, which wasn't even 4k, was a better
>> looking image!).
>>      Luckily, I have seen the original (on Showtime?...) in the past few
>> months, so it is still pretty fresh in my mind.
>>      Anyway, you're probably thinking - "What is the point of remaking a
>> movie that already hit it out of the park 20 years ago?!" Well, this one
>> is the musical version.
>>      As such, I definitely found it inferior to the original (which Pee+
>> also has in 4k, though I have not checked that out yet...) in about
>> every way possible.
>>      There were a few good bits - John Hamm turns up as Coach Carr
>> (Dwayne Hill played him in the original). And I thought Christopher
>> Briney was a more appealing Aaron Samuels than Jonathan Bennett was.
>> Finally, Angourie Rice is probably a better actress than Lindsay Lohan.
>>      Cady's mom is played by Jenna Fischer, who looks so old now...
>>      Bebe Wood and Avantika are fine as the other plastics, Gretchen and
>> Karen - not much worse than the originals, but no better.
>>      The scene where Regina finds out that Cady has been feeding her carb
>> bars to make her fat, and screams, is incredibly well lit - Rapp looks
>> downright demonic! That's the best-shot scene in the whole film, but it
>> belongs in an entirely different (better! horror!) movie.
>>      Other changes I didn't understand at all - the character of Cady
>> Heron's dad is totally eliminated from the proceedings! And they replace
>> Amy Poehler with Busy Philipps as Regina's Mom (why?!!).
>>      They also sneak in a cameo from Lindsay Lohan (who also looks old
>> now - and she's not even 40!!) to play the Mathletes Moderator, but I
>> thought Bruce Hunter excelled at this bit in the original.
>>      Tim Meadows and Tina Fey are still in this, but it felt like both
>> roles, especially Meadow's, are downgraded in this version, which I also
>> find inexplicable, as Meadows (and to a lesser extent Fey) are the best
>> things about the original film.
>>      They also excise some key bits from the original, like Cady
>> daydreaming that she attacks Regina, and more crucially the end of the
>> original film where we learn that the "reformed" Regina channeled all of
>> her rage into lacrosse and became a jock - Why would you drop probably
>> the best bit from the original film?!
>>      On the singing and music end:
>>      The music was OK - some of the songs were better than average,
>> others were unmemorable.
>>      Of the singers, I thought Auli'i Cravalho was by far the best (well
>> backed up by Jaquel Spivey) - I didn't like Cravalho's take on Janis
>> nearly as much as Lizzy Caplan's, but Cravalho's (and Spivey) provide
>> probably the best musical bits. Reneé Rapp as Regina can really sing...
>> well, sort of - she can really belt it out, but I thought Rapp's
>> enunciation was poor (very!) so as a result I couldn't make out half of
>> what she was singing! Angourie Rice is an OK singer - she's not bad, but
>> she's nothing special either.
>>      This was an OK watch, but I have no desire to rewatch this version
>> now, and the original is a much better watch.
> 
> I'd never seen either movie so after reading this, I settled in last
> night for a MEAN GIRLS marathon. I ended up watching them in reverse
> order, though, so I got the musical version first.
> 

I really want to watch both movies back to back in proper order but I 
can never manage it.  I think probably I liked the musical version 
better, but I won't be sure until I can do a proper pairing.