The 2024 reboot of Mean Girls It received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. However, an opinion shared by many moviegoers is that the character of Aaron Samuels was very underdeveloped. Aaron was supposed to be the main romantic interest of the film’s protagonist, Cady. However, the lack of screen time and plot for the character caused him to become dry and boring. Although the character was written solely as someone Cady and Regina fought over, there was no charisma or romantic connection between the characters. This made Aaron and Cady’s relationship at the end of the film unbelievable.
Since the film is a musical, the fact that Aaron didn’t sing really limited his connection with Cady, as most of the characters’ connections in the film were built through music, whether it was Renee Rapp singing “World Burn” or Avantika singing “Sexy “. While it was clear that Cady liked Aaron and Aaron liked Cady, the lack of singing between the two characters just made the relationship feel dry and forced. Christopher Briney would have done a great job playing Aaron in a normal movie, but in a musical, without singing, his performance just seemed strange.
Aaron Samuels Was Hardly in the Mean Girls Reboot
Lack of screen time caused the character to be underdeveloped
One of the main issues that led to Aaron’s underdevelopment as a love interest was his lack of screen time in the film. He almost didn’t appear in the film. Aaron appeared in any scene where Cady had math class, at both parties and the dance at the end, but that was it. That the lack of screen time really hurt the character and made it difficult to establish Aaron as his own character, with his own story. All the other main characters had their own little story that made them stand out as characters, separating them from the main plot.
The movie just used Aaron as an object of attraction for the main characters to fight.
There was a line in the movie where Cady referred to Aaron as Regina’s property. Aaron was angry about this, and rightly so. However, in reality, the film just used Aaron as an object of attraction for the main characters to fight, without any plot of its own. Every time Cady looks at Aaron, he becomes hyper-romanticized: There is always romantic music or a daydream sequence. Nothing about Aaron’s personal life is discussed in the film. He’s used to being objectified and seen as Cady’s prize at the end of the film.
The relationship between Cady and Aaron felt forced
There didn’t seem to be an emotional connection between the two characters
The biggest flaw in Cady and Aaron’s relationship on the show is that they knew nothing about each other. There was an intimate scene between the two as they sat talking on Cady’s bed at her party, but it ended in disaster. Other than this scene, there were no other moments in the film where the two characters sat down to genuinely get to know each other. The only thing the audience hears about Aaron’s life is that he is good enough to be in the best calculus classes and that he dated Regina George.
Although Cady had an immediate crush on Aaron, Aaron’s feelings took a while to recover. It took Cady pretending to fail math so that Aaron could tutor her. It was only when he thought he was saving her by teaching math that he began to feel the same way about her. This made their relationship feel forced, as Cady’s attraction to Aaron came from his appearance, while Aaron’s attraction to Cady came from the idea of saving a supposed damsel in distress.. There seemed to be a lack of a sense of personality in the relationship because of this.
Aaron did not sing in the musical
It was strange for a male lead not to sing in a movie musical
The only thing that really hurt Aaron’s character in the Mean Girls restart that’s it he didn’t sing. The fact that it’s a musical film where the male lead doesn’t sing is very strange. In the Broadway musical, the emotional connection between Cady and Aaron is established through the use of music. Together, Cady and Aaron sing two songs to establish their relationship. They sing a reprisal of “Stupid With Love” and sing a duet called “More Is Better”, both of which were cut from the film.
In the stage musical, Aaron also sings in the song “Someone Gets Hurt”, which makes the scene in which Aaron and Regina get back together much more impactful. All of the main characters have their emotions and feelings established through music, but since Aaron doesn’t sing, he lacks the same emotional depth as all the other characters. Unfortunately, this had a negative impact on his relationship with Cady, making it feel forced and unrealistic, as well as making Aaron Samuels’ characteristics seem dry and wooden in the musical reboot of Mean Girls.