She's The Man
Every teenage generation has a trend that Hollywood abuses. They seem to perforate our cinemas with stuff like supernatural pubescent erotica, in the eighties we had John Hughes dictating our pre-teen lives, and at the moment we’re in the middle of bleak, brown hued indie comedies and subversive self-awareness. During the nineties and noughties (because no one is actually sure when the nineties ended - it went on for so long), there was a bit of an amalgamation with an added dose of fourth wall breaking, cartoonish romps that are adaptation of great texts such as Clueless (Emma) and 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew)
She’s The Man is perhaps the closing film of this chapter of teen movies. Heck, even the film’s poster has lead actress Amanda Byrne in a short skirt with her fingers tucked into it. Because we haven’t seen that before. The film is based on The Twelfth Night and sees young girl Viola impersonate her brother when he is accepted into Sports College because she loves football (sorry, you aren’t getting me to say soccer) and apparently, herderher, girls can’t play football. But playing a girl is hard when you are a straight girl with hormones coming out of your hoohah… Especially when she falls for classmate Duke Orsino. Cue the wackiness…
Why Is It Bad?
Let’s get this out of the way - the cross-dressing elements, super anti-gay jokes and misogyny is rampant here and no amount of “she’s a girl…who plays football?” is going to change that. All you are going to get is a plaster over a stereotyped subject that does a lot of damage to transgenderism. Putting that to one side, the minute the premise wears off, the film becomes somewhat plain. See, the schtick is what hooks you in and, after that, the jokes become tiresome and wear pretty thin. It’s nothing truly original and that is inescapable, dulling the whole experience to this average affair.
Why is it Good?
Speaking on its failure to really promote healthy gender roles, it is actually does a pretty - if haphazard - job at developing Viola as a girl who enjoys dresses, make-up and boys as well as football and sport. Amanda Byrne is brilliant as Viola and certainly has some epic moments within the movie that executes her perfect delivery and comedic timing that made her famous. Plus this is the first film where we saw Channing Tatum’s abs, so that’s an almighty plus.
She’s The Man has some genuine heart, though, and when it is funny, it’s hilarious (why yes I do, my favourites gouda?) Channing Tatum is a welcome addition as the slow but charming Duke. It also has a heap of fans that will giggle their way through it, myself include. The film is ok but not stellar. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be watched but more that it should be enjoyed for what it is - fun. Just know this is the last film director Andy Fickman did before he clearly lost his mind and did this year’s Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.