Good news, millennials: The 'Mean Girls' remake won't actually make you feel old

• Warning: There are mild spoilers ahead for the new remake of "Mean Girls," now playing in theaters. 
• The movie was previously described as not "your mother's 'Mean Girls,'" which angered millennials. 
• The 2024 reboot is geared toward Gen Z, but the jokes and modern updates don't alienate millennials.

As it turns out, millennials can sit with the new "Mean Girls."

A musical take on the beloved 2004 movie officially arrived in theaters on Friday, passing the North Shore High's spring-fling crown to a new generation of Plastics. Reneé Rapp takes over as queen bee Regina George, while Angourie Rice stars as newbie Cady Heron.

The movie largely treads familiar territory but updates aspects of the story for a modern audience. But contrary to the marketing that made millennials feel ancient, the new "Mean Girls" isn't trying to push its thirtysomething viewers in front of a bus. There's really nothing generation-specific about it.

Targeting the reboot solely at Gen Z was one of the movie's biggest missteps pre-release

The new "Mean Girls" is a blend of the 2004 film we all know and love and the Broadway musical that opened in 2018 — although you wouldn't know that last part if you only saw the trailer.

But surprising audiences with a bunch of songs isn't the worst thing about the movie's marketing. The trailer called millennials old to their faces in a bold, pink-lettered declaration: "This isn't your mother's 'Mean Girls.'"

The assumption that the movie was for Gen Z was both insulting and alienating to fans of the original, many of whom are in their late 20s and 30s and not parents.

But the only thing specifically Gen Z about the remake is its casting.

"Moana" star Auli'i Cravalho takes on the role of Janis 'Imi'ike and "The Summer I Turned Pretty" actor Christopher Briney is 2024's version of Aaron Samuels. The 24-year-old Rapp, who has quickly emerged as a Gen Z icon, reprises the role of Regina, which she previously played on Broadway.

But while it's possible older millennials might be less familiar with Rapp's starring role on Max's "The Sex Lives of College Girls" or her 2023 album, "Snow Angel," it doesn't matter. Her talent is indisputable and can easily be recognized and appreciated by a member of any generation who finds themselves in a theater showing "Mean Girls" this winter.

The remake contains several modern changes, but they're not hard for millennials to follow

You don't need to be addicted to TikTok to understand how rumors and snide comments spread on social media. You also don't need to brush up on Gen Z lingo, because Tina Fey's script isn't inundated with trendy slang.

"I don't try to chase slang or anything that people are saying now because it takes a long time to make a movie, and it'll be over by the time the movie comes out," Fey previously told Fandango. "So we just try to have people talk like people."

Characters don't use words like "cap," "ate," "bet," or "rizz." Common terms like "besties" and "slay" do come up, and Gretchen is still trying to make "fetch" happen. But this time, she explains that it's slang from an "old" movie, like "Juno."

By resisting most slang trends, the movie remains accessible to people older than 27, even if the teens do think a movie from 2007 is "old."

The remake is at its best when it delivers fresh jokes that both generations can appreciate

The movie follows many of the same beats as its predecessor and includes some of the exact dialogue from the 2004 film. But instead of being nostalgic, the moments feel like cheap copies of the iconic originals.

It's the new jokes that make it worth watching.

Damian's memorable performance of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" at the winter talent show is replaced with a slowed-down, so-serious-it's-hilarious rendition of the "iCarly" theme song in French.

Instead of cutting up Regina's shirt to reveal her bra, which unintentionally starts a fashion trend at school, Janis turns on the sprinklers and douses Regina in water, creating a different fad among the junior girls.

The new touches of physical comedy aren't age-specific either, like when Karen applies her makeup with a grilled-cheese sandwich or when a neck-collar adorned Regina navigates the spring formal high on painkillers.

Thankfully, making a "Mean Girls" movie that isn't for millennials is just as impossible as making fetch happen — but the fact that they ever tried to still isn't grool.