she's the man review

She’s The Man

By Oggy Bleacher

This review was inspired by the half-dozen girls sitting behind me in the theater.

Oh, my god! Amanda Bynes is so cute! She’s completely rocking as a boy. And Channing Tatum is a total babe. He’s delicious! I totally remember him in those Abercrombie & Fitch ads where he’s not wearing any clothes. You’re a total slut. As if!

You know, She’s the Man is a total rip off of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. I know because we’re totally studying Shakespeare in English class and we talked for like an hour about movies that were inspired by his plays. Remember 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)? That was inspired by Taming the Shrew. So it isn’t anything new. I mean, big deal. If a story is good and the person who wrote it is dead then you should be allowed to remake it. Totally. Did you know that the same two people who wrote 10 Things... wrote She’s the Man? Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith. Really! It’s like the exact same thing. But they don’t play soccer in Twelfth Night. That’s what makes it a remake. Hey, you said you were gonna sit next to me. No, I didn’t. At lunch I said I was gonna sit next to Kelly. Remember, while you were talking to your jerk boy friend. Shut up! Who wants popcorn?

She’s the Man is totally funny. I laughed every two seconds. Amanda Bynes plays this girl, Viola, who loves soccer but her team gets cut. She wants to try out for the boys team but her jerk boyfriend is the goalie and he says girls can’t play with boys. Lame-ola! Then Viola’s twin brother Sebastian goes to London with his band. That gives Viola a chance to dress up as Sebastian and pretend to be him at his new school, Illyria Prep. Viola goes out for the boys soccer team and makes second string. She crushes on her new roommate, Duke, who also plays on the soccer team and helps her get good enough to make first string. Duke totally loves this other girl, Olivia, but Olivia falls for Sebastian/Viola. So it’s a total love rectangle. Triangle, you dummy. But Sebastian comes back early, so there are four of them. That makes a rectangle. What-ever, the music was the complete bomb!

What I like is that the movie is really funny. Bynes is super funny. She reminds me of that actress on the Lucille Ball show. You mean Lucille Ball? Yeah. And she kind of reminds me of Ellen DeGeneres. You know? She’s really funny without trying to be funny. She just makes you laugh with all her faces. That’s just what I was thinking. I like how the director (Andy Fickman) didn’t try to make the movie about how much Viola learns because she pretended to be a guy. I hate when movies do that. It is just about a girl who pretends to be a boy and who gets into a bunch of trouble because she falls for a guy who likes a girl who likes her. Simple! Sort of like Just One of the Guys (1985), but way more cool.

Grade B

She’s The Man

Cast: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey

Director: Andy Fickman

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Release Company: Dreamworks Pictures