Comment on ‘Mean Girls’ review: Musical adaptation retains irreverent fun of 2004 flick

Knowing that the movie adaptation of the stage musical version of “Mean Girls” — a song-infused, Tony Award-nominated take on the 2004 teen-movie favorite that made its Broadway debut in 2018 — originally was planned to debut on Paramount+ before being moved to a theatrical release this week, the worry was it would be what we might call a “streaming-quality” affair. Now, having seen it, we suspect Paramount Pictures executives believed it simply too strong not to be shown in auditoriums initially. Don’t get us wrong — this movie musical is only “so fetch.” It loses a bit of its momentum in its second half, but overall it’s a joyous and energetic affair, an impressive first feature from directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., one that retains what made the original “Mean Girls” work while also celebrating it. Of course, the first name associated with “Mean Girls” is that of Tina Fey, who based the screenplay for the meme-generating 2004 film from Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 book “Queen Bees and Wannabes” and played the supporting role of high school math teacher Ms.