It’s hard to believe Mean Girls is already 20 years old. The seminal comedy from writer Tina Fey and director Mark Waters first hit theaters in 2004 and introduced us all to the wild world of Cady Heron, Regina George, and the Plastics. A solid hit at the time, earning over $130 million at the box office two decades ago, Mean Girls has only grown in popularity over time.
In honor of the 20th anniversary, as well as the recent release of the Mean Girls musical remake, Paramount finally gave the iconic comedy the 4K treatment. Paramount Home Entertainment recently released the Mean Girls 20th Anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray, marking the best physical release in the film’s history.
Is it worth picking up? Let’s break it down.
The Movie
It’s hard to say anything about Mean Girls that hasn’t already been said over the last 20 years. There are countless reasons why Tina Fey’s exploration of high schoolers has continued to be such a pop culture mainstay. The references and jokes don’t feel dated and the high school experience remains every bit as poignant today as it did in 2004, even if technology has changed quite a lot in our lives.
Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, and everyone else in the cast deliver performances that have stood the test of time. All of the iconic quotes are as funny as you remember.
Mean Girls is one of the best comedies of the 2000s. It’s great to see it finally get a physical release worthy of its quality.
The Disc (and The Packaging)
The Mean Girls 20th Anniversary disc is a 2160p native 4K restoration in Dolby Vision/HDR 10. This is a great transfer all-around, especially since the Blu-ray version that came out years ago lacked a lot of the films finer details and color. Overall, this disc strikes the perfect balance of refining the picture while also getting back some of the “classic” 2004 look. It isn’t like a restoration of a film from the ’70s or ’80s where there’s a more noticeable grain to capture, but cameras in the early 2000s did have their own look. The Mean Girls 4K is able to give some great life to that very look (offering a lot of hope for Paramount’s upcoming Anchorman 20th Anniversary 4K release).
What’s most impressive about this transfer is just how much detail it’s able to find in a film where detail isn’t exactly on the forefront of your mind. Mean Girls is a teen comedy without any big special effects or extravagant sets, and a restoration for that kind of film may not be on your radar because it sometimes doesn’t feel like picture quality makes a ton of difference. After all, if the jokes and performances are the same, is it really that big of a difference?
Mean Girls goes to show just how much a high quality restoration can change the way you look at any movie, regardless of its budget or genre. The faces of the characters have so much more life thanks to the increased attention to detail. The same can be said for the school where the film is set. I was able to see so much more in the background of shots as the entire frame was brought into better focus. It provides a richness to every room that I had never been able to notice on Blu-ray, DVD, or streaming. When you factor in the much more refined color palette, it’s safe to say this is the best Mean Girls has looked in two decades.
And it would be impossible to talk about this release without the packaging. The Mean Girls 20th Anniversary disc comes in a bright pink 4K case (as opposed to the usual black), paying homage to Regina George and the Plastics, And the slipcover is designed to look like the infamous Burn Book featured in the film. Even though it may not be a steelbook, it’s a great case to have on display.
Like many other recent 4K releases from Paramount, however, this doesn’t include a Blu-ray or DVD copy. That’s probably not a big deal to many, because the 4K disc is the one you’re really paying for, but some do like having those multi-format packages. This Mean Girls release features only the 4K disc, as does the release of the 2024 Mean Girls film, though they do come with digital copies.
The Features
There’s both good and bad news when it comes to the special features on this new Mean Girls release. The good news is that there are a lot of features included, which is awesome at a time where it feels like special features receive less and less attention. The bad news, however, is that most of these features aren’t new.
If you owned the Mean Girls Blu-ray and watched the special features it included, you may be disappointed with what you find on this release. The filmmaker commentary and majority of featurettes are simply carried over from that previous release. There is one new feature called Mean Girls: Class of ’04 that sees Tina Fey and the Mean Girls 2024 cast as they look back at the original film. It’s a great addition to the features roster, but it’s a little disappointing to only have that new addition.
All that to say, if you didn’t own the Blu-ray, there are a lot of features here worth digging into! You can check out the full list of Mean Girls 4K features below.
- Mean Girls: Class of ’04-Tina Fey and cast from the new movie look back at the original film and discuss why it became a cult classic. NEW!
- Commentary by director Mark Waters, screenwriter and actress Tina Fey, and producer Lorne Michaels
- Only the Strong Survive
- The Politics of Girl World
- Plastic Fashion
- Word Vomit (Blooper Reel)
- So Fetch – Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by director Mark Waters and screenwriter and actress Tina Fey
- Interstitials
- Theatrical Trailer
The Verdict
Mean Girls is a fantastic movie and honestly one of the very best depictions of high schoolers in the 2000s. It’s absolutely a movie worth having in your collection and, if you’re going own a copy of it, this 20th Anniversary 4K is the one to grab.
Not every 4K restoration is going to blow your mind, but simply doing a good job and carefully covering every base goes a long way. The team behind this Mean Girls transfer did the work and it shows. A tremendous upgrade to a tremendous movie that will certainly please fans of both the film and physical media.
If you like Mean Girls, don’t hesitate to pick this up. If you’ve never seen it, this disc is a perfect opportunity to change that.
Mean Girls 20th Anniversary Edition is now available to purchase on 4K Ultra HD. A copy was provided for the purposes of this review.
