She’s the Man

“Amanda Bynes proves that girls can do anything guys can do in She’s the Man. The laughs are non-stop when Viola (Bynes), disguised as her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk), joins the high school boys’ soccer team and helps win the big game while unexpectedly falling for Duke (Channing Tatum), the hot star forward. Viola discovers that dealing with high school politics and twisted love triangles is a major challenge when you’re a guy who’s really a girl! So kick back and get ready to laugh out loud!”

She’s the Man is loosely based William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, which also includes a woman named Viola disguising herself as her twin brother Sebastian. Although the exploration of the gender roles are quite different some 400 years after the play was written, the comedy of that exploration and the differences are still quite funny to this day. This modern version of the story is actually a perfect vehicle to explore those updated gender views as gender equality has shifted significantly. The central theme of the story, using soccer as the catalyst, is that women can be just as good as men, and Viola sets out to prove that by impersonating her twin brother just so she can enroll in a rival school and join their soccer team to beat those in her own school that wouldn’t let her compete because of her gender.

Although this story has some very prominent themes about sexism and gender, it’s still geared more toward a younger audience, with Amanda Bynes still being popular with the Disney crowd at that point in her career. These gender themes do present some inspiring sequences for young girls, teaching them that they can do anything they put their minds to, while still touching on that high school experience and playful, almost slapstick humor that Amanda Bynes was pretty good at during her heyday. The love triangle that plays such a prominent part in the play, isn’t explored as in depth in this film, or even as much as it could have been. Viola’s attraction to Duke is clear, as is Duke’s for Olivia, but the comedy of the Olivia attraction to Sebastian (Viola in disguise), is only briefly touched upon. Although this is only a short 15 years ago, it’s interesting how LGTB acceptance in films has progressed since then, and how the film just flat out refuses to touch any kind of themes of homosexuality or even the idea of it.

As far as the film itself goes, I’m clearly not the targeted demographic audience, but still found myself laughing out loud quite a bit surprisingly. Growing up with Nickelodeon and All That, I was always familiar with Amanda Bynes and how funny she was at a young age, but never really followed her after that. Her career was short lived before her battle with drugs and mental health issues, but I can say that she did have some talent that I’m sure would have brought the world a lot more laughs if she would have kept going and made the transition into more adult comedies, and it’s a shame we never got to see that. As funny as her character can be at times, the choice to have that character act so unabashedly strange was sometimes a benefit and a detriment to the story, but it was different enough to warrant some laughs along the way. Channing Tatum still claims he owes his career to Amanda Bynes, which fought for him to get the lead role, which was a first for him. Back during this point in his career, Tatum didn’t even register on my radar as someone whom I thought would churn out some impressive work, but he’s really gone above and beyond these past 15 years, and going back to see his earlier stuff is always interesting. He provides a solid performance as Duke, the soccer super-athlete who also has a very sensitive side. There are some other great smaller roles, namely Vinnie Jones and David Cross, both who definitely steal the scenes they’re in.

Video

She’s the Man is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1. For the first time on Blu-ray, this fifteenth anniversary of the film looks great in High Definition. Colors are bright and vibrant, most specifically the soccer sequences with the bright uniforms against the green field. The picture is clear and detailed, with no defects noted during viewing.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. This track stands out, most notably for some of the great songs chosen for the score, very reminiscent of the early 2000’s. The track overall sounds very good, with the majority of the sound coming through the center channel in the form of dialogue, with the surrounds balanced nicely for atmospheric effects and off-camera sounds. No issues with the audio were noted.

Special Features

There is quite a bit of extras on the disc, all of which look to be imported from older releases.

These include:

• Commentary by Amanda Bynes, Director Andy Fickman, Co-Writer/Producer Ewan “Jack” Leslie and actors Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman and Alex Breckenridge
• Commentary by Ewan “Jack” Leslie and Producer Lauren Shuler Donner
• Making the Man
• The Troupe
• Inspired by Shakespeare’s…
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• Gag Reel
• Music Video “Let Go” by Dave Lichens
• Theatrical Trailer

She’s the Man may be geared toward a younger audience, but does contain plenty of laughs for the older crowd as well. As easy as it is to overlook films like this, it’s themes of gender equality are extremely uplifting, and important, which makes it a great film for a younger audience. You can pick up a copy of this one today.