10 Movies Like Mean Girls To Watch After The Reboot (2024)

The 2024 Mean Girls is an adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the original 2004 movie of the same name, and the teen dramedy universe is rife with notable projects that share similarities with Mean Girls. While the 2024 Mean Girls' connection to the original Mean Girls is complicated, the common thread between the two movies is their focus on an unpopular high-schooler's struggles to integrate with the popular girls while also maintaining her sense of independence and individuality while also offering viewers plenty of laughs.

While the original Mean Girls has gone on to develop a respectable status as a comedic cult classic, the 2024 Mean Girls does improve upon the original in many ways. Moreover, with both movies being a part of the teen comedy genre, both versions contain many good and bad tropes the genre has become famous for, thus partly paying homage to the genre, as well as being an innovative new entry in it. From the 1980s to the 2020s, there are a handful of notable projects that share many similarities to Mean Girls via shared premises or humorous sensibilities.

10 Bring It On (2000)

Bring It On also features feuding female high-schoolers competing for the title of the most popular.

Bring It On centers around a champion high-school cheerleading squad competing against an inner-city high school after discovering they've stolen many of their signature routines. Although Bring It On is notable for its overall fun and slapstick sense of humor, the movie is also notable for its depictions of issues relating to race, class, and cultural appropriation - issues rarely touched on in any teen comedy in a sincere and engaging way. While Bring It On handles serious topics fairly well, its humor, slang, and style make it one of Mean Girls' most similar teen comedies.

9 She's All That (1999)

She's All That's message of acceptance mirrors Mean Girls'.

She's All That centers around a teen jock named Zack who makes a bet that he can turn his school's least attractive girl into the next prom queen by virtue of association. Notable for its soundtrack and premise, She's All That bests many other movies in the teen comedy-drama by highlighting the vapid nature of vanity and popularity, while also putting a spotlight on accepting people for who they are. Although She's All That lends itself to parodies like Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie, its careful handling of sensitive subjects keeps it in line with Mean Girls.

8 The Outcasts (2017)

The Outcasts offer a fresh perspective on the teen dramedy with more proactive protagonists.

The Outcasts focuses on best friends Jodi and Mindy hatching a revenge plot against their high school's popular kids after falling prey to a humiliating prank. Filled with a more mature sense of humor than many entries in the genre from the 90s and 2000s, The Outcasts ultimately leaves viewers with a revenge is futile message that helps infuse the long-standing genre with fresh perspectives to consider. Filled with convincing performances from its fresh-faced cast, Mean Girls and The Outcasts' emphasis on cliques and their futility link them closely thematically.

7 Easy A (2010)

Easy A highlights the damaging effects of people-pleasing.

Easy A sees Emma Stone as high school student Olive Penderghast, a clean-cut student who cracks under the social pressures from the more popular girls, and leans into the rumors about her to fit in. Filled with many clever jokes and a strong message about being one's self, Easy A is a notable movie in the teen comedy genre because of its witty sense of humor and great message without falling prey to being overly preachy. With an equally engaging cast, Easy A and Mean Girls feel more like cousins than competing projects in the same genre.

6 The High School Music Franchise (2006 - 2008)

The High School Musical movies blend dance numbers with conventional teen comedy tropes.

The High School Musical franchise centers around Wildcats Troy, Gabriella, and Chad as they navigate the societal ills associated with making it through high school. Blending comedy, teen drama, and Broadway musicals like Mean Girls, the High School Musical movies are notable for being some of the first movies in the genre to blend the differing styles of teen comedies and Broadway musicals to successful and memorable effect. While the High School Musical movies lean more into the musical aspects than Mean Girls, they still share the same stylistic approach to their storytelling.

5 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

10 Things I Hate About You cleverly toys with the teen comedy's formula.

10 Things I Hate About You centers around a high school boy named Cameron who pays the mysterious Patrick to help charm the sister of a girl he wants to date in a movie that sees its male protagonists on the receiving end of its plot's less favorable moments. Featuring a breakout performance by the late Heath Ledger, the movie, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, is less about bullying and more about opposing forces of nature realizing they have more in common than they realize. As such, Mean Girls shares a similarly brilliant subversion of the genre with 10 Things I Hate About You.

4 Do Revenge (2022)

Do Revenge sees an unlikely alliance between the popular girl and the shy girl.

Do Revenge sees its popular girl Drea team up with its shy girl Eleanor in a movie that sees the two unlikely allies work together to combat their opposing bullies. Rife with great performances and a unique approach to the teen comedy formula, Do Revenge thrives on its premise of two unlikely allies learning to see their shared humanity through their common goal. Featuring unique slang and opposing factions, Do Revenge's great female characters and emphasis on the importance of treating others with respect, Do Revenge ranks as a great movie with similar themes to Mean Girls.

3 Clueless (1995)

Clueless is loosely based on the 1815 Jane Austen novel Emma.

Clueless centers around the shallow and rich high school student Cher Horowitz and her friends' plot to orchestrate a romance between two teachers after receiving a poor grade on a test. While the plot is wild, bordering on the absurd, the movie's effortlessly funny script and optimistic tone catered towards its teen audience make it a special addition to the teen comedy genre's repertoire. With cleverly written female characters who offer as many laughs as they do charm, Clueless' ability to endear audiences to its otherwise shallow and vain protagonists makes it a welcome comparison to Mean Girls.

2 Jawbreaker (1999)

Jawbreaker highlights the futility of vanity and popularity with its absurdly hilarious premise.

Jawbreaker centers around three popular high school girls who hatch a plan to cover their tracks after accidentally killing their school's prom queen with a jawbreaker in a prank gone horribly wrong. Featuring great performances from its three leads, Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, and Julie Benz, Jawbreaker's cult following in the subsequent years after its release comes from its ability to staunchly oppose the expectations set for a movie in the genre. With the 2004 Mean Girls paying homage to Jawbreaker, it is easily one of the movies most like Mean Girls.

1 Heathers (1989)

Heathers' take on the teen drama arguably wrote the playbook for the genre.

Heathers centers around the exploits at Westerburg High, where every popular girl is named Heather works together with the jocks to rule the pecking order and dictate how things go. Heathers is one of the earliest entries in the genre, thus making it one of the first teen comedies to effectively blend dark humor with the bubbly exterior of high school cliques. Although underappreciated in its day, Heathers has gone on to receive retroactive praise from critics, and with its influence felt in similar movies including Mean Girls, it stands as the closest to the 2024 musical.