She's the Man 2006

She's the Man stars Amanda Bynes as... a man? Not quite. She stars as Viola, a girl that dreams of one day becoming a famous soccer player, but you see...as it turns out, the entire world is dead set against her, as they believe a woman can't play sports...or do anything, at that matter, because they're girls. So, to prove them wrong, Viola goes undercover, impersonating her brother, to prove to the world that women can indeed do things.

Perhaps the most compelling and interesting aspect of this film is a detail that I don't think many people are aware of...that this movie is actually a modern adaptation of a Shakespeare story called Twelfth Night -- and what's crazier still is they didn't even change people's names. The four main players here are the same names Shakespeare had, and those names are all....pretty modern for the most part, names like Viola, Sebastian and Olivia. The one name that's like....eh...is Channing Tatum's "Duke" character. I don't know many people called Duke. Anyways, it's more of a factoid that I found interesting. I'm not intimately familiar with a lot of Shakespeare's comedies. I was much more on the drama train, as I was a fan of Hamlet and the classic Romeo & Juliet.

That being said, you don't necessarily have to have the knowledge that this was once a Shakespeare play in order to enjoy it, as this is one of Amanda Bynes's better, and most memorable roles in general. It really hams up those embarrassing, fish-out-of-water scenarios where there's been a gender swap. It's not exactly the first time we've seen this type of thing happen, either. Perhaps the most notable version is Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire or Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie. Heck, there's even an argument for Mulan. So, I would probably claim that this idea has been done before, and done better, but as a teen version of the same idea, it's not bad.

However, one of the issues this film runs into is the fact that it IS a teen film, and what do teens have? hormones, and what did the world not have in 2006 when this film came out? Gender or sexual fluidity. So, out of all four gender-swapping films I've mentioned, this is probably the most problematic when it came to stereotypes, just because it was sometimes sexually-fueled with all that teen hormones. It was feminist in nature, obviously, as the entire film was on the nose in terms of gender equality...so it was about proving to the world that girls are capable. That's great! However, it also didn't do many favors for homophobia, because obviously a lot of the jokes the film plays out were the fact that this girl, who's playing a boy, is attracted to another guy, and he freaks out any time she acts interested in him. Made for some good laughs back in the mid-2000s, but a lot of what this movie does wouldn't work today -- so some aspects of the film haven't aged very well.

Another problem with the film is the lack of commitment on all sides. Amanda Bynes is wearing a wig in the film when she could have easily committed to the role and just cut her hair. Girls cut their hair all the time to be as short as guys...it grows back, but the fact that she would rather wear a wig just doesn't make a lot of logical sense, especially because one -- she's sharing a room with other guys, which means you have to sleep in that wig, and two -- she's a soccer player, so she's running around a lot, and who wants to risk a wig flying off mid-game? I think Bynes simply didn't want to cut her hair because she liked her hair too much, and yeah, she looks good with long hair, but...that wig is obviously horrible. Also -- I wasn't too impressed with the makeup or anything. It wouldn't take TOO much to make her look male enough...but dang, you can obviously tell that's a girl! I know it's not a huge deal because it's just a silly film, but still!

Anyways, the film has some very good laughs despite the issues it sometimes has, and that mostly has to do with Amanda Bynes and her incredibly distinct humor, which makes me believe that she was rightfully cast for her role, but I just didn't care for some of the writing, especially when it comes to the plot, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I mean, basically, what happens is her girl's soccer team is cut, and she goes to ANOTHER school and acts like a guy THERE to prove that she has what it takes....and I'm just not fully sure why she didn't just impersonate a guy at her OWN school. There's just some facts here that didn't make a lot of sense to me, and I'm wondering if it was done the way it was because of Shakespeare in his play.

Overall, I think it's a fair watch. Some things haven't aged super well, but some of the jokes have stood the test of time, so it's a give and take comedy, take that as you will and let's take a look at my final score for a second. From a technical, unbiased level, I would consider this a mostly average modern comedy. It's never trying very hard in the visuals, cinematography, editing, or music. Some of the dialogue is funny for obvious reasons, and some of the writing when it comes to stereotypes are a little meh...so this score reflects most of that at 68%.

When it comes to my biased score, I will admit that I had a good time watching the movie. I laughed quite a few times here and there and wouldn't mind rewatching from time to time, as elements of the film feel classic, to a degree. This score is 84%. When we average out the two scores together, we come to the final rating of 76%, 76 out of 100 possible stars or a C+ letter grade.

In terms of gender-swapping films, I would say it's much lower on the totem pole, but in terms of Amanda Bynes films, it's rather high on the totem pole, so it completely depends on the reason why you watch it.

...PEACE OUT