She's the Man

Though I hate to admit it, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith have scored again. "She's the Man" is a ridiculous but ultimately entertaining teen movie which takes the gender-bending action of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and drops it in the middle of a modern-day American boarding school. The premise should sound familiar because screenwriters Lutz and Smith also penned "10 Things I Hate About You," another twist on Shakespeare, starring the likes of Julia Styles and Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger (before he was an Academy Award nominee).

It's more of the same, of course, but seeing Shakespeare's work go Hollywood, and, thus, be ripped to shreds, continues to amuse. "She's the Man" also focuses on a decidedly less bitter heroine than the shrew, Katarina, played in 1999 by a very stilted Styles. If that makes the film less witty, who cares? Not half of this film's target audience, who came mostly to see Channing Tatum with his shirt off.

Like Kat in "10 Things," Viola (Amanda Bynes) is a tomboy and a soccer star on the women's team at Cornwall Prep. Her life is soccer, which becomes a problem when her school cuts the women from the sports program. Better than most of the boys, Viola wants to suit up with them but is snubbed by both the coach and the team's captain – her boyfriend. So it's "end of discussion … end of relationship." Viola hatches a plan to pursue her sporting dreams at rival school Illyria, where her twin brother has just enrolled. Twin brother, Sebastian, is skipping off to England for two weeks and nobody at Illyria has ever met him.

If you missed the set up, read "Twelfth Night." It's pretty obvious what happens from here. Viola disguises herself as her brother and moves into the dorms where she meets her roommate and fellow soccer player Duke (Channing Tatum). She begins to gear up for Illyria's season opener against Cornwall and has to navigate a complicated love-triangle, in addition to other challenges like taking a shower alongside her male teammates, without them finding out about her girl parts.

In reality, nobody who looks like Bynes could get away with impersonating a 17 year-old male. Viola is too pretty to be a boy; in other words, dressed as her brother, she makes Orlando Bloom look like a frost-bitten lumberjack. This fantasy aspect doesn't detract from the film, though. Viola puts on her wig and fake sideburns and, suddenly, she's the most socially awkward nerd-boy you've ever seen. Suspension of disbelief works.

The Sebastian disguise doesn't have to be convincing. What matters is that all the other characters are oblivious to facts that are obvious to the audience. The laughs come from seeing Viola get away with a ridiculous scam. In one scene, Duke and fake Sebastian hug each other, but Viola slips out of character and gets a little too friendly. It's not that homoeroticism or homophobia are inherently funny, it's the knowledge that Duke is disturbed by being frisked by someone who is actually a girl that makes us laugh.

Other than that, "She's the Man" offers audiences the simple pleasure of Amanda Bynes who seems to be a natural in comedic roles. Her Sebastian/Viola is definitely a caricature but it's a perfectly illustrated one. From her mixed-up half southern, half Canadian drawl (her misguided version of the typical teen boy cadence), to her crotch grabbing and Eminem-like posturing, Bynes has a lot of fun and, as a result, the jokes land.

It's a teen movie, so the ending is typical and cheesy. While sister film "10 Things I Hate About You" had a wild feminist streak in it and touched on somewhat weighty issues, such as the pressure to have sex, "She's the Man" lacks a serious undercurrent. But this is probably a good thing. "10 Things" was, at times, too earnest and moralizing. "She's the Man" doesn't pretend to be more important than it is. It'll earn a spot on the shelf, in between "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Legally Blonde." (And, like Reese, maybe Bynes will win an Oscar in 10 years. Anything is possible – just look at how "Crash" won Best Film.)

Copyright (c) 2006 by Lauren Simpson

She's The Man was everything I wanted it to be and maybe even a little more. I love the teen type "chick flick" films and I knew this one would be great!! In the same vein as 10 Things I Hate About You (one of my all time faves) She's The Man is a unique, well written, very well performed comedy with some of the funniest lines, and physical comedy I have seen in a long time. It's probably the funniest movie I've seen this year (with the exception of the hilarious Pink Panther.) But She's The Man is actually a more intellectual funny and most of the humor relies on the witty script, "Three's Company" style story of mistaken identities, and mixed messages, and the cast.

Amanda Bynes is a star!! Even since the days of the horribly campy (yet strangely entertaining "The Amanda Show", she has shown a brilliant talent for comedy. She's probably one of the most talented comediennes out there. Her style of physical comedy, impersonations, and witty dialect makes her hilarious. Previously her big screen debut (where she was the star) was the rather hilarious and well made "What A Girl Wants." If that wasn't her break out vehicle than She's The Man takes care of that hands down. Bynes is really the ultimate girl next door. It's a shame she doesn't do more big screen work because she could be the next "It" girl. She is the All American, cute, down to earth, bubbly teen (although she's twenty now) and whether or not she'll be able to carry her talent and style over to being an adult actor will remain to be seen. But for the purpose of this film she is perfect!! She actually legitimately pulls off the rather outlandish plot of her impersonating her twin brother and makes it believable. Not entirely...but believable enough. Most of the script relies on the comedy of her errors trying to be a guy but it's just hilarious, non stop laughs. Channing Tatum redeems himself from his deplorable performance in 2005's "Havoc" by plays Duke. He's the jock, the captain of the soccer team, and eventually Bynes' object of affection, unfortunately he's also Sebastian's room mate (who is Bynes.) He's a good leading man, and the chemistry is perfect between them. Laura Ramsey is Olivia, who happens to be attracted to Sebastian (who again is Bynes.) She does good as well although her part is small and she doesn't really effect the rest of the cast one way or another. James Kirk is great in his small role as the real Sebastian. His resemblance to Amanda Bynes is astonishing...they are absolutely believable as twins and further more, from a distance you could understand someone believing Bynes is Sebastian. The rest of the cast all fit in there somewhere and their roles range from brief to more supporting but essentially they are all supporting the story between Bynes and Tatum but everyone is more or less supporting Bynes terrific performance. She easily carries the film with no hesitations and makes it worth while.

This is one of those films that shows so much in the trailer and yet it's not one of those films that when that part comes up it's not funny anymore. The parts in the trailer that make you laugh are even more hilarious in the actual film. Relative newcomer director Andy Fickman does such an incredible job on this film. He weaves together a potentially complicated storyline and makes it flow naturally and makes everything fall together. The story which is loosely based off of Shakespeares Twelfth Night but it's remarkable how much they managed to translate over to this modern day film. It's seemingly completely off the wall but more exact to the classic comedy than you'd think. There isn't too much to say about a downside except that the last half hour drags a little and also becomes a might predictable but it doesn't change the hilarity of the first half of the film. Nonetheless you'll be laughing to tears and it's one of the funniest films in the theater right now hands down!!! 9/10

Viola Johnson (Amanda Bynes) enters a prestigious boarding school disguised as her brother, so that he can run off to London to become a musician. Unfortunately, she immediately falls for her male roommate, who already has a crush on a girl who now has a crush on the male version of Viola.

Combining the story of "Just One of the Guys" and Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night may sound like a recipe for disaster but She's the Man is a funny, charming and cheesy movie. The original trailer looked really lame yet the film turned out to be quite enjoyable. The story is clearly nothing new but it still works fine. The fact that the screenplay is written by Karen McCullah Lutz explains everything. She's good for harmless, fun films like She's the Man, Legally Blonde and Ella Enchanted. Andy Fickman does a decent job as the director. He never lets the film become too serious or else it would ruin the movie's appeal. He does overload on a few lame jokes though. That was the major problem I had with this film. Some of the jokes just fell flat while others were just incredibly cheesy, even for this film.

The acting was good for this type of movie and most of the actors were enjoyable to watch on screen. Amanda Bynes is full of charm as Viola. It was very hard to actually hate her and she's a much better actress than Hilary Duff. Channing Tatum was not as strong as Amanda. His performance was okay, sometimes his reactions were a little fake. Laura Ramsey plays Olivia and she gives a decent performance. Alex Breckenridge gives a pretty good performance as Monique. Her character was pretty interesting and she had decent chemistry with Amanda. The rest of the supporting actors are good except for David Cross. He plays the school principal and his performance was not funny at all.

If you do give She's the Man a shot then keep in mind that the entire film is highly unrealistic. I was reading some of the posts here and a few people are bashing the film for that. While the movie is pretty entertaining, it's also easily forgettable. It was a fun way to spend 100 minutes but it won't stay in your memory for long. It's also not just a chick flick and a guy could also like the movie. In the end, She's the Man is worth checking out whether that be in the theaters or on video. Rating 7/10

I just took my 11 year old daughter and 8 year old son to this movie and I can't remember a movie where I laughed SO hard -- literal out loud, deep bursts of laughter because this movie is hilarious. Granted the story line is predictable but the ride is so extremely enjoyable it doesn't matter that you know how it's going to end. The actors' comedic senses of timing were impeccable. The actors were perfectly cast. My children mentioned that Amanda Bynes seems to be the last of the young women actresses who aren't ruining their lives. She is so refreshing. My children said this is now their favorite movie of 2006. Our money was well spent on this movie.

I have to be honest, I really had a good time watching She's the Man. Despite it being a typical teenage comedy or if you will the switching of the sexes movie, it had some pretty decent laughs that I think anyone could get. Adults and teens alike would over all enjoy this movie.

Amanda Bynes is your typical rebellious teen who dresses and acts like a guy, and when she is turned down to try out for the boy's soccer team, she decides to take over her brother's appearance to prove herself worthy of being on the boy's soccer team. Of course, love shows itself when she meets another guy who thinks she's her brother. She also has a girl who is chasing after her. Well, the tag line says it all.

This is a fun little teen drama that I think will be remembered for a while. Amanda Bynes did prove something in the film, it's really hard to really act like a guy. :D Well, it's true!

8/10