The New Mean Girls Trailer

 When the Mean Girls musical film adaptation was announced, I was conflicted. As much as I enjoy a good musical, I was split on the album and would have preferred a pro shot instead as I always will. But the first trailer dropped a couple nights ago, with a release date set for mid-January. The first trailer was dropped and the movie is about two months out. This was a tad concerning with the first major trailer coming within such a short time, but that was not the only thing giving me mixed feelings, after a couple days and a couple rewatch here are my thoughts. 

The movie was already advertised as a musical and announced as such, it is even mentioned in the advertising for the movie. But this trailer decided to market this film like it was a reboot of the film and nothing else. Not a single song was previewed, and every moment a song or dance looked like they were going to be shown off it cut away. There are multiple moments where a character looks as if they are about to sing or a dance number will break out but, nothing. Even though the wording in the advertisements hypes up the Mean Girls movie musical, no music is shown.

What is left there is a movie that is acting like it is a reboot of the original. Using the same jokes, and some of the same lines, while trying to also be different. In this case, it's using and implementing Tik Tok, and randomly cutting to characters using social media to react to what is going on. In concept, this works because if the film were set in the modern day this would have to be a factor, but it comes off as a tad distracting, almost as if the movie is stopping to put these moments in. The trailer showed almost all of the plot of the movie, or at least the first hour, making me wonder how much the run time will compare to the original what songs will be cut, and which will make it. 

One of the big problems musical fans, myself included can have with a movie version of a musical is cutting content from the stage show to save run time as there is no intermission, or casting actors who do not sing in the range musicals require. I wish we had even a little taste, as we do with every other movie musical trailer to see how the singing sounds from these actors. Keeping the audience in the dark on one of your most defining features that makes you stand out, while also leaving out what is being advertised is a baffling decision.

I will do my best to withhold judgment from the film, but this trailer did not sell me. For getting so much wrong this was a bad trailer in the sense is it is misleading, and tries to bank on the nostalgia of the film. All the while not showing what makes this movie stand out, all it shows is returning cast members and the jokes we remember, but a version of this story already exists with both and it came out more than ten years ago and is still very beloved. Even the recent commercial for a clothing store with these actors was different enough to still capture nostalgia. I just hope the movie is worth it, and if there is another a trailer, some music in this musical is included.