There's an inherent problem with British audiences: they're quite fickle in regards to what they'll watch, especially the younger generations. While the storytelling and film-making of a brit-made flick may be good, setting a movie in Britain (British schools, British football, British women, etc.) is never as glamorous as the US counterparts. I always wondered why the British film industry didn't just go and make movies in the US with American actors. Which is why I was surprised to learn this was exactly the case with 'It's A Boy / Girl Thing'.
Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers are the gorgeous headliners for the story - a girl and a guy switching bodies. The story's been done a hundred times over, and the script was especially very poor (sadly the first indication of it being a typically British film.) But the director took this script and did what he could with it, and he managed to turn it into something so wonderful that you forget about the bad lines and clichéd story elements and end up appreciating the overflowing emotion (not fake Hollywood emotion - it feels much more real), great cinematography (another indication of a British film), and the stunning music score (the football game scene is a work of art.)
It was a very interesting and refreshing shift in paradigm to have the leading role change from Samaire to Kevin 30 minutes into the story. However it was, at times, difficult to keep track of who each character was referring to (for example, the female character would say to the male character, "your mother
" but she would actually be referring to the girl's mother. All very complicated!)
The British director, Nick Hurran, turned a very clichéd and badly written script into something soft and emotional. He really did some amazing things to lift this movie above the typical and tacky romcoms, and took the acting, the music, and the camera, and harmonized it into an enjoyable experience for both sexes.
A very American movie, inside of a very British film. Worth seeing for this refreshing experiment alone.
11 out of 24 found this helpful