Movie Review: She's the Man
Talk about a case of mistaken identity! Amanda Bynes dresses as a guy to play on the guy's soccer team only to fall for a team member...could get sticky....
Soccer team star Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) goes ballistic when her high school cuts the girls' program. When her boyfriend Justin (Robert Hoffman) doesn't support her desire to join the boys' team, she's got to dump him and figure out how to continue playing. Everyone says she looks like her twin brother Sebastian (he's way taller but whatever). He goes to London with his band and Viola decides to enroll as her bro in his new prep school so she can try out for their boys' team.
Viola has to learn all things "guy", walking, talking, dressing and chick bashing. Duke (Channing Tatum of "Coach Carter") is assigned as "Sebastian's" roomie and his hottie status makes it hard for Viola to keep up her guy act. Of course Duke is in love with Olivia (Laura Ramsey) who actually is attracted to Viola (as Sebastian of course) because she likes sensitive guys.
Meanwhile, Sebastian's ex-girlfriend Monique (Alex Breckenridge) is trying to hook up with Sebastian to chew him out and Viola has to avoid her lest she blow her cover! Viola's mom wants her to get all girlie for a debutant ball and has no idea her daughter is now pretending to be.. her son!
Shakespeare is a master of relationship farce. 
"Twelfth Night", upon which She's the Man is based, is a delightful tangle of mistaken identity. On the surface, She's the Man is fun if a very formula take on the identity debacle. There are no surprises and, with a strange 1960's style Beatle wig on Amanda as Sebastian, it's hard to believe for a minute that she is accepted as her brother. At no time does she really look remotely like a guy. But, if you can just take the movie as a fantasy, there are plenty of funny moments.
It's kind of disheartening to see how chauvinistic the film's young men are but Channing Tatum does a nice job of portraying a sensitive yet athletic young specimen that most girls would fall for. There is a lot of broad, physical comedy that doesn't allow for enough of the more personal, clever gender clash scenes that would take advantage of this timeless story. Amanda's comedy timing is excellent as usual and she is very funny as Sebastian. There are a few nice, touching moments as she pines for someone who has no idea who she is and feels out of place at a snooty debutante luncheon.
If you can suspend disbelief in Amanda's guy appearance and just check the film out for laughs, She's the Man is a cute comedy that would fit the date flick classification quite well. Plenty of sports action and guy bonding stuff for guys as well.
For an amusing effort at a timeless classic story.. 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
