She's the Man (2006)

She''s The Man

Amanda Bynes is a terrific actress and this movie is filled with laughs. A girl wants to play soccer. so in her brother's absence she dresses like him and goes to his school. of course, changing back from girl to boy at a carnival is hilarious. November 3, 2008

VERY DISAPPOINTED

I gave one star ONLY because there was nothing lower. Never received the item but my credit card was charged the day after the order was placed. After seeing so many complaints about this vendor, it makes you wonder if they even have the product. October 13, 2008

Pretty good ;-P

To be honest, I only saw this movie because it was on TV. I had wanted to watch it earlier, but figured it would be a waste of time because I have seen these kind of gender reversal movies before. Yet I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually better than I thought and quite enjoyable.
Amanda Bynes was pretty good in this (except when she played the male role, she had this stupid Jack Black type voice going on that only he does well) as a really good soccer player who's school coach won't allow girls on his team. To proove how good she is at the sport, she plays the role of her brother (who's secretly headed off to London) and becomes roomates with Duke who she starts to fall for despite him falling for some girl who likes her/him.
Anyway, you have to at least give this a shot. It's more than I expected and I did find myself enjoying it and laughing through a lot of parts - there are some great scenes. I think people of any age will like this as it's light hearted and fun. July 27, 2008

Entertaining

Our 10 year old daughter watches this movie over and over. I have to admit I like it, too. Good for some laughs and some discussions about gender roles. June 9, 2008

She's the Man Vs. Just One of the Guys. And the Winner Is....

Recently in movies we've seen a string of "stealth remakes" in which filmmakers take the basic plot of a previous movie and, without attribution, use it for a new film. Thus 13 Going On 30 isn't REALLY a remake of Big, despite the fact they both deal with a barely pubescent kid wishing they were an adult, and magically having it happen. The Island isn't REALLY a remake of Parts: The Clonus Horror despite the fact they both deal with a secret facility producing clones as spare parts for the elite's surgical procedures, and what happens when two of the clones discover that fact. And She's the Man isn't REALLY a remake of Just One of the Guys despite the fact they both deal with a cute teenage girl disguising herself as a teenage boy to invade a school's all-male sports team.

Comparing the two movies, for me She's the Man works better than Just One of the Guys. For one thing, in the latter I was never really able to make the logical jump between "I've lost a journalism competition, therefore I'll join a football team," especially coming from a girl with absolutely no prior experience at, or passion for, football. On the other hand, when Viola, who loves soccer more than anything, has her school's girl's soccer program canceled, and is denied a chance to try out for the boy's team on the grounds that girls don't have the physical wherewithal to make good soccer players, I can easily make the leap between that and "I'll disguise myself as a boy, join my school's cross-town rival's soccer team, and kick this team's butt to prove my point."

Also, not to get anatomical here (he said, just before getting anatomical) but Joyce Hiser in Just One of the Guys is a, well, um, er, very busty young woman with a Playboy Playmate face and figure. Even with her breasts bound down (or as far down as they'll go) and her hair slicked back - which, along with men's clothes is the sum total of her disguise - she's simply not believable as a guy for anyone with eyes. Amanda Bines by contrast, while she looks really good as a girl, with her, ahem, generally less bounteous attributes and the help of a wig, fake eyebrows and sideburns IS believable as a guy - a very short, slim, effeminate, probably gay or bisexual guy, but a guy nonetheless.

Finally, the acting in She's the Man is actually, y'know, good.

She's the Man is an amazingly fun movie. I smiled, snickered, laughed out loud and shook my head in amazement more often during this film than with any other movie in memory. The script, while there have been, to put it mildly, certain liberties taken with the Bard's work, does stick close enough to the plot of Twelfth Night to please its fans. The love triangle between Viola, Olivia - and yes, Viola's studly roommate is actually named Duke Orsino - remains intact. The school Viola invades in disguise is called Illyria, the name of the island on which she washes up in the play. Even Malcolm's (Malvolio's) yellow stockings are present and accounted for. You don't have to love Twelfth Night to enjoy this film. But unlike some Shakespeare-to-modern-day translations (Romeo+Juliet, anyone?), loving the source material will not make watching this movie pure torture, either. March 29, 2008

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