"She's the Man"

Amanda Bynes
Channing Tatum
Laura Ramsey
Vinnie Jones
Robert Hoffman
Alex Breckinridge
Julie Hagerty
David Cross




PG13           105min           2006


Amanda Bynes proves that girls can do anything guys can do in “She's the Man”. The laughs are non-stop when Viola (Bynes) disguised as her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) joins the high school boys’ soccer team and helps win the big game while unexpectedly falling for Duke (Channing Tatum), the star forward. Viola discovers that dealing with high school politics and twisted love triangles is a major challenge when you’re a guy who’s really a girl. – from the back cover

Inspired by “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare but more of a re-imagine of “Just One of the Boys”, a title to a movie that I had to research as I saw this movie when I younger. Amanda Bynes leads a cast of beautiful people trying to seem like their lives are normal. It’s a movie that does what it set out to do is be funny.

“She's the Man” takes a lot of the names and places from the Shakespeare play and relies heavily on its plot. But as I was watching it I kept be reminded of this film that I saw when I was a kid and I just couldn’t remember the name. They play very similar to each other by following the same shtick or they are just following the line that William Shakespeare laid.

This is a cast of beautiful people in a beautiful world doing things that until recently people who have never done. Maybe Shakespeare wasn’t just a writer but a foreseer to and instead of making prophecies he wrote them into plays. There’s one moment when she steps out of the car that you believe she could be a boy. The rest of the time her voice betrays her, it sounds like a castrated six year old, which is fine for a girl. The old change in her voice is when she’s coaching Duke in one scene. Even though she’s not convincing to him as a boy she is a talented comedic actress.

“She's the Man” does what it set out to do…be funny. It set its characters in situations that were bound to be funny. Amanda Bynes carries the majority of the load but she also surrounded by some talented comics too. David Cross and Julie Hagerty make you laugh the minute they hit the screen. It’s a teen comedy classic depending on your taste.

This DVD is full of features. It has a director and cast commentary and a pop-up trivia track. It contains several deleted scenes and a gag reel. There is a boiler plate behind the scene make of featurette and a music video by Dave Lichens called “Let Go”, pay close attention to extras in the video many of them are former child stars of the 90’s. There are movie previews for “Over the Hedge”, “Failure to Launch”, Laguna Beach, Season 2”, and “All You’ve Got”.

I give it 2/5 Gs.