05/15/06 She's The Man

She's The Man (2006), directed by Andy Fickman

watched w/ Leslie; theater (Blue Ridge Cinema, Raleigh, NC)

Borrowing from a wide variety of other works of literature and film...I thought this was going to be another Hollywood re-hashing of the teeny-bopper set's angst-ridden love story. Embarrassingly, I must admit that I enjoyed the film. I owe it completely to the fact that it revolved around my loved sport of soccer, and that the Nickelodeon-style humor of lead actress Amanda Bynes reminds me of the silly escapades of my Nickelodeon-watching youth. Claiming to be a modernization of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," this tale follows teenaged Viola as she struggles to break down gender barriers in the high school world, all the while bending her own. Seeing that her high school's girls' soccer team is about to be dropped as a program, Viola takes it upon herself to prove her sex's worth on the field...so she decides to impersonate her twin brother transferring to rival high school and trying out as him on the boys' soccer team. Posing as a boy poses all sorts of uh-oh type problems (as you can imagine...but don't imagine too much you naughty thing you!). Not only must Viola prove her worth, she also falls for the one person that could make things awkward for her...her roommate/teammate Duke! Oh geez. She enlists the help of her friends to keep the charade up in order to make the team, beat her ex-boyfriend's team, help get her brother laid, and win the heart of her love. That and finals! Wow, the pressure. Actually, you may remember this plot aside from the Shakespearean reference in such titles as 80's fave "Just One Of The Guys" (replace soccer tryouts with newspaper reporting); "Bend It Like Beckham" (girls can kick butt too); and "Ladybugs" (isn't it eerie how much Amanda Bynes in drag looks like Jonathan Brandis in drag?).

3 out of 5 stars