She's the Man

 

 

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When it comes to thinking outside of the box on the plays of William Shakespeare, I am inclined to point back to 1936 when the Federal Theater Projects assigned Orson Welles to direct a project in Harlem. Welles mounted a production of "Macbeth" set in Haiti at the court of King Henri Christophe that was wildly successful. After World War II on the other side of the world Akira Kurosawa did his own versions of "Macbeth" and "King Lear," as "Throne of Blood" and "Ran" respectively. Then we come to a pivotal moment in the history of Shakespeare when the musical "West Side Story," written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), which took "The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet" and turned the family strife between the Montaques and the Capulets into a turf ware on the lower east side of New York City between the Jets and the Sharks. True, "Kiss Me Kate" took "The Taming of the Shrew" and made it part of a musical in a musical, but "West Side Story" was important because it was the movie that said Shakespeare is for kids.

That is why in recent years we have seen both Shakespearean tragedies like "Othello" and comedies such as "The Taming of the Shrew," set in the world of teenage angst in the films "O" and "Ten Things I Hate About You." In addition to both of those films having Julia Stiles as the female lead, they were both relatively serious films, at least in terms of pretending they took place in the realm world. But "She's the Man" is a version of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" that is totally willing to play up the comedy, going more for slapstick (although the catfight in the ladies room between the three principle young women in the cast is rather violent slapstick). So this really gets beyond the tongue in cheek stage.

If you know "Twelfth Night" then you will be able to figure this one out. If not, the film's tagline explains it all: "Duke (Channing Tatum) wants Olivia (Laura Ramsey) who likes Sebastian (James Kirk) who is really Viola (Amanda Bynes) whose brother is dating Monique (Alex Breckenridge) so she hates Olivia (Laura Ramsey) who's with Duke (Channing Tatum) to make Sebastian (James Kirk) jealous who is really Viola (Amanda Bynes) who's crushing on Duke (Channing Tatum) who thinks she's a guy..." So basically it is a love story complicated by mistaken identity, which for most of the film involves three people being four until the fourth shows up and helps everything work out. The screenplay by Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kristen Smith is able to streamline things a bit by having Viola pretend to be her brother Sebastian, instead of pretending to be a boy named Cesario (which is now the name of a pizza joint), so that when Sebastian shows up people think he is Sebastian, which he is, only not the Sebastian they know that is really Viola, and not Cesario, whom he is not.

The other key change is that Shakespeare did not write about football (what we Yanks call soccer), which is what Viola plays. But Cornwall High cuts its girls soccer team and she is not allowed to try out for the boys team, she decides the only thing to do is to take advantage of her brother's quick trip to London to play music to go to his school, Illyria, and make their boys soccer team so when they play Cornwall, she can beat them and show them (which, in more than one way, she does). This is a world where the adults stay mostly out of the way, and I was going to say that with Viola and Sebastian's mom (Julie Hagerty) and Principal Gold (David Cross) that this was sort of like the Charlie Brown world where the grownups just make noise, except Vinnie Jones shows up to play Coach Dinklage, and I dare any of you to tell him what he says is meaningless.

This is a fun movie. Bynes is not trying to hard, which is what is just what is needed for the role at the center of "She's the Man." If she tried any less, then it would just be total silliness from start to finish. But if she tried any harder then we would have to deal with the obvious fact that she does not look like a boy and that her Sebastian is a lot shorter than the real Sebastian. On stage when you see "Twelfth Night" performed this is always the case, but we go along with that, so certainly a movie that is based on it deserves the same consideration. Fortunately Bynes is still associated much more with Nickelodeon than the tabloids so her aura of innocence and inherent likeability allow us to enjoy the nonsense and just go ahead for the ride. It will be some time before we get around to the likes of "Titus Andronicus" set in a high school, but you know the day is coming, so lighthearted fare such as ""She's the Man" is a fun movie to watch in the meantime.

What to do, if you are a girl that wants to play soccer and the girl's team of your high school has been cut? If you are Viola (Amanda Bynes), you convince your friends to help you and disguise yourself as your brother Sebastian (James Kirk), in order to try out for the boys' team of other school. After all, "If you can't join them, beat them".

That's is the starting point of a delightful comedy of errors, that is more than a little silly, but pretty funny all the same. What will Viola do when she falls for Duke (Channing Tatum), one of her teammates? And how will she escape from Olivia (Laura Ramsey), the girl Duke loves but that happens to have a crush on "Sebastian"?

I'm quite sure you will not be more intelligent after watching "She is the man", but I am also confident that you will have had lots of fun, specially if you are under 20, or someone older who still likes a silly but engaging movie from time to time. Recommended!

Belen Alcat

i thought the movie was great, something you could see happen if someone wanted something so much, they would want to try something.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great Chemistry!!
The characters are great and the story line is great too. I love all the complicated relationships and all the problems with Viola(Amanda Bynes) as her brother. Read more

Published on Nov 4 2007 by Janelle Howdy

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