There's a good chance that if you throw a quote from the 2004 classic "Mean Girls" into a conversation, pretty much anyone will understand the reference. It's hard to go wrong in a movie that features Lindsey Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Tina Fey as some of the main characters. So much of the iconic film revolves around the bedazzled Juicy Couture tracksuits and classic high school drama getting caught up in a landline telephone, that taking it out of the beloved early 2000s timeframe would also take away the movie's original charm. Many of us have never seen the sequel, "Mean Girls 2," which was released in 2011 — and we should keep it that way.
With an all-new lead cast, "Mean Girls 2" is a bad knock-off of the original. The same plot line persists — there's still a girl who doesn't want to be caught up in the drama but ends up in the midst of the war among the "plastics." There's still the same basic drama, childish feuds and cattiness. The writers of the sequel may have gotten the basic plot right, but missed out on the humor featured in the original.
In "Mean Girls 2," the characters aren't as relatable as they were in the original. Even though the personalities of the original cast were dramatically exaggerated, it was still enjoyable because many could relate some of the truths to their own high school experience. From not fitting into your prom dress to crushing over the guy who sits behind you in math class, the drama that existed in the original actually happens in real life.
In addition, the ending of "Mean Girls 2" does not offer good cathartic closure. Instead of ending with humor and decent amends being made in most relationships like the first movie, there's still a remaining group of the "plastics" and the "anti-plastics" are disbanded.
With cheesier jokes, sillier drama and lamer punch lines, "Mean Girls 2" is hardly enjoyable. It falls far too short of the original to be claimed a decent chick flick, much less a quality sequel. This movie perpetuates the stereotype that sequels are never as good as the first and deserves one star.