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 2006 PG-13 / Comedy Romance Directed by: Starring: |
- If you wanna chase your dream, sometimes you gotta break the rules.
Summary Capsule
- Girl dresses as boy, girl meets boy, boy is in for sexual identity confusion.
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Justin's Rating: Remember kids: only beautiful girls make weirdly asexual boy-things
Justin's Review: To think about it, there's quite likely enough gender-bending, cross-dressing, penis-detaching movies to qualify for its own Findaflik category. Whether it be the Wayans brothers creeping us out as white chicks, Tom Hanks showing us how he can be a bosom buddy, or Barbara Streisand trying to prove that she can play both a man AND a member of the human race, Hollywood loves to dig out the old chestnut of pretending to be a member of the opposite sex for a convoluted purpose. Yes, yes, we're all growing up into a wonderful new century where progressive universities are installing a third bathroom for "other" (the symbol is a stick figure with a question mark over their genitals), but I can't say I know of any real life examples of gender swapping just to prove a philosophical point about how girls can be as good as guys, and how guys can be Mrs. Doubtfire and scare us away from sex forever.
Two reasons, I shall give. Like Yoda, I shall talk. Smug little green peanut, he was.
The first is Amanda Bynes, who - not having feasted on Nickelodeon for the past fifteen years - I'm less than familiar with. I underestimated her by assuming that she was just another Duff Lohan marketing sensation, the kind that looks good in both wholesome teenie bopper rags and shameless Maxim spreads but has the brain capacity of a poodle. What blew me away was not how she looks, but how she could make herself look. Bynes isn't just a pretty face squeezing into a "comedy-romance" role to keep her name brand recognition fresh, she's an honest-to-God comedienne.
In reviewing her biography, I'm not surprised to discover that she's trained under both Arsenio Hall and Richard Pryor… oh wait, I'm a little bit surprised. Does Arsenio train people to do anything other than wave fists and make a hooting noise like a crowd of deaf owls? Still, as Bynes plays Viola, a tomboyish soccer player who disguises herself as her brother to get a shot at playing against the school that rejected her, she makes both the "girl" and "girl as boy" roles entertaining and hilarious. She busts out goofy faces, has an exceptional talent for hitting the right beats, and plays her character(s) dorky yet sincere. I don't think I've ever seen a young actress have such an obviously good time chewing with her mouth open at a debutante luncheon, just to peeve the richies off.
Double-plus: at no point does Viola crumple up her face and ask us to feel sorry for a girl about to cry (ack ack), nor does she descend into the awkward lingo that Hollywood writers try to pass for however teens speak these days.1
She makes the movie. As great as Joyce Hyser was in Just One of the Guys, I'll give the slight edge to Amanda Bynes for willing to be a bit more of an eye-rolling nerd as "Sebastian". It's been a while since I've seen a teenage actress own a comedy role so perfectly that I cannot praise her enough. I really hope she keeps on in the same vein.
The second reason why this movie is of worth is that the monkeys hacking out the script managed to pull off more than a few moments that defied my expectations. Although we see dozens of high school "comedies" pumped out every year and they're mostly considered to be fluff, it's hard to do good fluff right. The music has to be spot-on, yet not distracting. The characters have to be lovable, or at least memorable. The dialogue should demonstrate a variety of wit and intelligence. And there should be comedy in my cup 'o cinematic coffee, not just teenage angst in the midst of a mythical land devoid of pimples and puberty.
Defying the odds, She's The Man blends just the right elements to make a shake that goes down smoothly. I found myself laughing - and not just to practice my Santa routine for Christmas, either - first out of surprise that something was hilarious, then on a regular basis as this film threw quirky (almost cartoony) characters into slapsticky situations, and massaged the scenes until it all came out right. There's a convoluted mix of romantic entanglements, which are even more screwed up when you throw a gender-bending nut into the mix. There's a makeover scene, a training montage, the Big Game, David Cross with a bushy fake beard, the Gay Best Friend, a giant armadillo and a geeky evil nemesis that's straight out of any 80's flick. And it has the British hooligan from Eurotrip playing the scariest soccer coach ever.
Yeah, so it's drowning in bad clichés. That doesn't mean they didn't have fun with it. It really made my day. I think it might just make yours.
1. Actually, teens no longer communicate orally. Their speech has devolved while their thumb muscle reflexes have increased a thousand-fold through text messaging.
 She misspoke; his bowtie really did radiate pure joy and peace
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- Tampons can stop nosebleeds.
- David Cross! Woot! The beard does great things on him.
- Bologna is 38% hoof.
- CATFIGHT!
- CATFIGHT!
- CATFIGHT!
- Viola chomping through her lunch
- That IS a lot of nudity at a soccer game. Of course, we don't see any of it.
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
No.
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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There are several references to William Shakespeare's "The Twelfth Night," on which the movie is based. The school is called Illyria, which is the name of the country where the play takes place. Duke Orsino's character is based on Orsino, a duke. Duke's friends are named Toby and Andrew; in the play, Toby is Olivia's uncle and Andrew is one of her suitors. However, in the play, Viola is not impersonating her brother in particular, just a man, and she calls herself Cesario, which is the name of the restaurant seen where Sebastian/Viola breaks up with Monique and where Duke, Olivia, Eunice, and Sebastian/Viola briefly double date.
When they first started filming, Amanda Bynes couldn't play soccer at all. Nevertheless, Bynes does most of her own playing in the movie.
Groovy Quotes
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Cheryl: Chew like you have a secret.
Viola: Oh my god you're hurt... [clears throat] I mean, suck it up, be a man and rub some dirt on it.
Duke: Okay, I'll rub some dirt in it...
Viola: No man... if you wanna kiss her... You go right ahead and you kiss her! I mean, knock your self out! You just take her... then kiss her. Then kiss the crap out of her!
Viola: [gets hit in the crotch] Oh. Right. OWW! OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! IT BURNS!
Duke: So, uh, do you... like cheese?
Eunice: More than any other animal by-product.
Paul: Just remember, inside every girl, there's a boy. That came out wrong but you know what I mean.
Duke: [at the kissing booth] What do you think its going to be like?
Toby: It's going to be really special, she's just about kissed 300 guys at his point.
Principal Gold: Malcolm, have you ever tried to run away in high heels?
Malcolm: No, sir, I...
Principal Gold: Not that easy. Not that easy...
Roger: Is it just me or this soccer game have more nudity than most?
Principal Gold: [referring to Sebastian] He's probably halfway to China by now, I mean, he showed his "willis and doodleberries"...
Sebastian: Present!
Viola: I can do this. I am a dude. I am a hunky dude! I'm a badass hunky dude!
Soundtrack Review
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There's a fresh, poppy selection of songs that play in surprisingly well with the movie. Harkens me back to the glory days of 1996, it does.
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This review page was last updated on 1.16.08
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