She's the Man (2006)

When her brother decides to ditch for a couple weeks in London, Viola heads over to his elite boarding school, disguises herself as him, and proceeds to fall for one of her soccer teammates. Little does she realize she's not the only one with romantic troubles, as she, as he, gets in the middle of a series of intermingled love affairs.

Director:

Andy Fickman

Writers:

Ewan Leslie (screenplay), Karen McCullah Lutz (screenplay),

Stars:

Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amanda Bynes	...	Viola
Channing Tatum	...	Duke
Laura Ramsey	...	Olivia Lennox
Vinnie Jones	...	Dinklage
David Cross	...	Gold
Julie Hagerty	...	Daphne
Robert Hoffman	...	Justin
Alexandra Breckenridge	...	Monique (as Alex Breckenridge)
Jonathan Sadowski	...	Paul
Amanda Crew	...	Kia
Jessica Lucas	...	Yvonne
Brandon Jay McLaren	...	Toby
Clifton MaCabe Murray	...	Andrew (as Clifton Murray)
James Snyder	...	Malcolm
James Kirk	...	Sebastian

Storyline

Here's the thing! Viola's soccer team at Cornwall gets cut. She wants to join the boys team, but they do not allow girls. So she thinks "If you can't join them, beat them". So she does! She disguises herself as her twin brother Sebastian, and goes out for the rival school, Illyria, boys' soccer team and makes it. Unfortunately, she didn't plan falling in love with her roommate Duke. But Duke has his eyes on Olivia. What makes matters worse is that Olivia starts to fall for Sebastian because he/she has a sensitive side. If things couldn't get more problematic, the real Sebastian (who was in London working on his music) comes home early. He arrives on campus and has no clue that he was replaced by his twin sister.

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Plot Keywords:

soccer | school | twin | disguise | roommate | 

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Taglines:

If you wanna chase your dream, sometimes you gotta break the rules.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material

Details

Official Sites:

CMC [Taiwan] DreamWorks [United States]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dude Looks Like a Lady

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$13,276 (Chile) (3 November 2006)

Gross:

$16,911 (Chile) (3 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Lakeshore Entertainment, Donners' Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based loosely on William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will". The school is called Illyria, which is the name of the country where the play takes place. Duke Orsino's character is based on Orsino, a duke. Duke's friends are named Toby and Andrew; in the play, Toby is Olivia's uncle and Andrew is one of her suitors. However, in the play, Viola is not impersonating her brother in particular, just a man, and she calls herself Cesario, which is the name of the restaurant seen where Sebastian/Viola breaks up with Monique and where Duke, Olivia, Eunice, and Sebastian/Viola briefly double date. On Viola's first day at Illyria, she walks by a school theatre playbill entitled "What You Will."

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Goofs

In reality, débutante escorts are chosen almost eight months in advance and there are teas and manners sessions throughout those eight months. There is no way that the characters could have switched escorts so late in the story and Viola would have never been able to be an actual débutante without successfully fulfilling her year-long requirements. The movie shows her joining the débutante process two weeks before the ball.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Justin: Oh! She shoots, she scores! Goal!

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: 2009 Teen Tournament Finals: Game 1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Love"
Written by Matt White & Paul Umbach
Performed by Matt White
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

First Rate Teen Flick

I saw this movie today (opened yesterday here) and was simply delighted.

I saw a review that said something to the effect that the reviewer thought this would be just another teen movie, but then found it was based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night ... and then started trying to justify liking this flick on Shakespearean grounds. I really think this is going way overboard: the only connections I could see with Twelfth Night are (a) the basic conceit of a girl masquerading as a man; (b) the extensive male-female humor arising out of that basic conceit; and (c) some of the names (including Viola & Duke).

Aside from those names, the thematic commonalties (a & b) are really great themes for any script, and this movie's script is no exception. Beyond that, though, this really is a simply delightful and very contemporary/traditional teen flick. And that's a perfectly legit genre even if highbrows have to find an excuse to like it ... like alluding to Shakespeare.

The movie is bright, fast-paced, emotive, stylized, funny ... full of teen hormones and teen humor and male/female humor suitable for all ages. And that's really the best part IMHO: really just about every male stereotype and every female stereotype is depicted in roundly appealing over-the-top fun. Those stereotypes are parodied relentlessly but affectionately, with such a complexity of invention that I'm still a little bewildered ... but really don't feel at all disappointed in that regard, it's not that kind of a movie: things come at you fast and fun and you get a laugh and a groan and then move on to the next split-second happening.

Amanda Bynes really is just delightful as Viola / Sebastian; Channing Tatum makes a wonderful Duke; David Cross does a wonderfully over the top Principal Gold. All of the acting and characterizations were fine and on target. Cinematography was excellent.

Wonderful entertainment from beginning to end ... check it out!