Mean Girls - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mean Girls



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Is it really 20 years ago that Mean Girls came out? Ugggg, it seems 2004 IS that far away. That was the year I graduated college. The year I got married to my lovely wife, and the year I got my first “real” job. Now I have silver hitting my beard, looking at 20 year anniversary films and realizing that I was a kid when they all came out, and that I no longer stayed up till 2:00 AM hanging out with friends, but rather like going to bed at 9:00 PM. All kidding aside, it’s great to see the classic Lindsey Lohan and Tina Fey comedy finally getting a new encode, and just in time for the remake.

15 year old Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) has just moved to a new school for the first time. Pretty typical of most teenagers who move around, but for Cady it’s a bit different. Here parents lived in Africa for most of her life, so she was home schooled for her entire life until this point in her existence. That means that she’s not only having her first day of a new school, but a first day AT school in general. Blending in is hard enough when you’re new, but being a newbie at EVERYTHING to do with school leaves one a bit on the outside. Finding solace in the school “losers” Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese, Cady does her best to fit in. Out of sheer boredom the “plastics” (e.g., the hot snooty girl cliques) invite Cady over to their table, which gives Janis the perfect idea. Since Cady is the new “hot” girl, she can infiltrate the plastics and unveil their inner demons to the whole school.

Soon Cady is lost in her role as an undercover “plastic” girl. Her sweet and innocent nature starts to become like the other girls and what was once an undercover mission soon turns into Cady’s desire to become number one. As lines between snooty plastic and geek blur, the young newbie has to figure out what it means to be herself, and what it means to have actual real friends instead of stabbing everyone and anyone behind their backs in order to get ahead.

Mean Girls raises the pertinent question, “who IS the mean girls?”. Is it the snotty Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her cohorts? Or is it the ones who want to infiltrate the snotty girls and destroy their lives? It’s a question that must be asked as the initial straight and narrow lines are blurred and you’re left wondering WHO really is the mean ones. This is the same style of lines that were drawn with Heathers. A misunderstood girl come to a new school, things get heated, and she’s suddenly the evil vixen of the class. Everything plays out pretty predictably, but also with more than a few laughs.

Lindsay is still young enough here to play the cute and innocent girl gone bad, and she does well with the role. Rachel McAdams is perfect as the twisted Regina, and Amanda Seyfried does what she does best. Play a ditzy blonde (and this was also her first really big role as well). The old 90s and early 2000s comedians are at play as the adults, and Tim Meadows actually manages to steal the show whenever he’s on screen. The film itself isn’t the greatest of early 2000s comedies, but it has held up rather well after 15 years, and is a very solid one to say the least.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and some teen partying




4K Video:

After 15 years we FINALLY get a Mean Girls release with a brand new encode. I was a little nervous when I heard that Tina Fey was remaking 2004 film Mean Girls, and even more nervous when I saw the original was getting a 20th anniversary 4K UHD release as well. After some of the faux pas that were Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and a half dozen other UHD comedy films from Paramount I was worried we’d get a “meh” upgrade over the already “meh” Blu-ray releases we’ve had for the better part of 1.5 decades. Well, we actually got a really nice looking upgrade, a very nice looking 4K disc in general.

I have no idea if we’re looking at a brand new master for the film, but I’m guessing that it was a fairly newish 4K master as many of the flaws and quirks of the mediocre 2009/2019 disc are long gone. The UHD disc looks much more neutral in nature, without all of the aliasing, DNR and various problems that were basked into the old disc’s master. Colors are bright and VERY warm with the Dolby Vision tweaks, adding a much needed richness and “pop” to the bubblegum pink film. The entire image is much sharper, with added clarity and a really robust array of detail levels ranging from cuts on the face, Regina’s weight gain bar sticking in her teeth, or even the textures on Regina’s huge bedspread stand out even more. The film isn’t perfect, with some shots showing minor softness, and the light grain layer weirdly still looks a bit chunky and uneven at times. Otherwise the film looks head and shoulders over the 15 year old Blu-ray encode that has been recycled time and time again.








Audio:

The same 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track is found on the disc as was found on the 2009 Blu-ray AND the 2019 15th Annivsary disc, and seems), and it is what it is. A very front heavy comedy mix that does everything well, but in a rather generic way. Dialog is clean and clear, precisely located in the center of the room, while the mains handle the hustle and bustle of the high school environment. The music is loud and aggressive, while the surrounds pick up the last modicum of activity with said music and the end spring fling scene. It’s not a mix that’s going to blow your socks away, but it does everything well enough, just with not many expectations of heavy bass use or surround activity.







Extras:

• NEW! Mean Girls: Class of '04
• Commentary with Director Mark Waters, Actor/Writer Tina Fey and Producer Lorne Michaels
• Featurrettes
-- Only the Strong Survive
-- The Politics of Girl World
-- Plastic Fashion
• Word Vomit (Blooper Reel)
• Interstitial
• Theatrical Trailer
• So Fetch - Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Director Mark Waters and Tina Fey

Final Score: ​

Looking back 20 years I still have some very fond memories of Mean Girls. It was sort of a modern day spiritual successor to Heathers (just without bombs, violence etc), and kind of a “locked in it’s time” when it comes to dialog (holy cow, some of the stuff said back then would NEVER make it into dialog today) and situations. But at the same time, it still is spot on to how growing up back in the 90s and early 2000s was to a certain degree. And weirdly, still resonates with kids today as some of the issues are timeless to being in that 14-18 year old high school period of life. The 4K UHD is a half and half sort of upgrade to the 15 year old Blu-ray that’s been recycled half a dozen times. The extras are the same except for ONE new one. The audio is a port, but the new 4K encode for the video is a fairly large upgrade over the mediocre Blu-ray encode. So while I would have loved to see more extras and a better audio track, it’s a solid upgrade for sure when taking into account the 2160p video. Solid watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Jonathan Bennett, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler, Lizzy Caplan
Directed by: Mark Waters
Written by: Mark Waters (Book), Tina Fey (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French, French (Canada), German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 97 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: April 30th, 2024

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Agree, this is a great movie like Heathers was as well.

 

[hg29]

incredible review! thanks for sharing! Are you sure it comes with audio and subtitles in Spanish? because I have seen unboxings and on the box it only says English thanks a lot

 

[Michael Scott]

incredible review! thanks for sharing! Are you sure it comes with audio and subtitles in Spanish? because I have seen unboxings and on the box it only says English thanks a lot

yes, this is an actual screenshot of the audio and subtitle options on the disc

 

[hg29]

yes, this is an actual screenshot of the audio and subtitle options on the disc

View attachment 70439

Thanks a lot, this is great! Although it is strange that they put Spanish (Spain) and not Latin but it is appreciated

 

[VJM]

Great to hear the transfer is not horrible! This is a fun movie