She's the Man is a 2006 American romantic comedy film, starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. It's directed by Andy Fickman, based on William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, though it also shares substantial similarities to Just One of the Guys[citation needed] (which, itself, is based on Twelfth Night). The film also co-stars David Cross. It was released on March 17, 2006 in the United States and Canada; April 6, 2006 in Australia; and April 7, 2006 in the United Kingdom.
Plot
Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is a high school soccer player who learns that the girls' team at her school, Cornwall, is being cut. After her request to join the boys' team is refused, she finds a way to play for Cornwall's rival, Illyria.
Viola's twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk), whom she resembles physically, is supposed to enter Illyria as a new student. However, he plans to visit London secretly to enter a contest with his rock band. Sebastian asks Viola to cover for him by telling the school that he is sick and each of their parents (who are divorced) that he is staying with the other.
Viola instead decides to pass herself off as Sebastian and join the boys' soccer team at Illyria. She hopes to beat the Cornwall team and humiliate her loving but slightly sexist goalie ex-boyfriend Justin (Robert Hoffman), who had discouraged her from joining the team. With the help of her friends Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), Kia (Amanda Crew), and Yvonne (Jessica Lucas), Viola becomes the quirky "Sebastian".
At Illyria, Viola's roommate is Duke Orsino (Channing Tatum), a good-looking striker on the soccer team. Kia and Yvonne agree to help Viola make her alter ego seem popular by pretending to be in love with "Sebastian". Viola, under the guise, also publicly breaks up with the real Sebastian's girlfriend, Monique (Alex Breckenridge), since she doesn't like her. Duke and his friends are impressed, but Viola's soccer skills are still not good enough to make first string. It looks like Viola may not be able to play in the game against Cornwall after all.
After spending so much time with him, Viola realizes that she has fallen in love with Duke. However, Duke is currently interested in Viola's lab partner, Olivia (Laura Ramsey). In exchange for Viola's help in getting Olivia's attention, Duke agrees to put in extra soccer practice time with her. The practice pays off when Coach Dinklage (Vinnie Jones) promotes Viola to first string.
During the time that Viola has spent at Illyria, she has confused everyone there by having tampons in her bag, getting kicked in the groin and it not affecting her, and accidentally giving feminine opinions and then suddenly changing to a more masculine one. Principal Gold also sees her scratching at her wig and thinks she has male pattern baldness.
By this time, Olivia has developed a crush on "Sebastian". Since "Sebastian" isn't interested in her, Olivia plans to go out with Duke in order to make him jealous. Meanwhile, Monique and Malcolm Feste (James Snyder) (who has a crush on Olivia and is jealous of Viola as Sebastian) find out Viola's secret identity.
The plot is complicated when the real Sebastian returns from London a day early. When he arrives at Illyria, Olivia runs up and kisses him. Duke sees this and thinks his roommate has betrayed him. They argue and Duke kicks Viola out of their room.
On the day of the big game, Monique and Malcolm reveal the truth about Viola to Principal Gold (David Cross). But because Viola has overslept, the real Sebastian winds up on the field playing in what should be his sister's spot. Principal Gold stops the game, determined on revealing the truth, but Sebastian proves that he really is a boy by pulling down his shorts and exposing his genitals (offscreen). At half-time, Viola explains the situation to Sebastian and they switch places again.
Duke is still angry with "Sebastian" and refuses to pass the ball to Viola. She tries to explain that she really is a girl, finally convincing Duke and everyone else by showing them her breasts (again, offscreen). The coach agrees to let Viola keep playing anyway, sternly informing the Cornwall coach that Illyria doesn't discriminate based on gender. Illyria wins the game on a penalty kick when Viola scores a goal by tricking her ex-boyfriend Justin with the help of Duke.
Everyone at Illyria rejoices after the victory, except for Duke who is hurt at Viola's deception. She invites Duke to her debutante ball by sending her brother with a package of cheese (referencing a topic she had suggested for him to talk about with Olivia) and a note asking him to come. She is waiting for him in a garden, when she mistakes a man that needs to turn on sprinklers, for Duke, because he's in the shadows. Then, Duke ends up coming from behind Viola. Then they head to the Debutante ball, where they are introduced, come on stage, and kiss, earning wolf whistles and surprise. Near the end of the film, it shows Viola with Duke playing on the soccer team of Illyria as a first string.
Cast
Reaction
Box office performance
She's the Man grossed a total of $33,741,133 domestic with a total gross of $57,194,667 worldwide.[1]
Critic response
Based on 108 reviews, She's the Man scored a 44% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 44 reviews counted as "fresh" and 61 reviews counted as "rotten."[2]
References to Twelfth Night
Like 10 Things I Hate About You, She's the Man is loosely based on a Shakespearean comedy. The plots of She's the Man and Twelfth Night run along similar lines, such as Olivia kissing Sebastian rather than the disguised Viola, or Duke enlisting "Sebastian" (the disguised Viola) to help him gain Olivia's attention (in the play, the Duke Orsino enlisted "Cesario" to help him win Olivia). The main characters share the names of the characters in Twelfth Night, and are in a similar love triangle. Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia, who is in love with a disguised Viola (who has a twin named Sebastian), who in turn is in love with Duke.
The film's connections to the play are emphasized through a number of visual and dialogue references:
- In the trailer, when Viola walks through the school's campus outside, a billboard can be seen on the left hand side advertising the school's production of "What You Will".
- The pizza parlor where the kids hang out is called Cesario's, and Cesario is Viola's disguised character in Twelfth Night.
- Duke says: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them", a quote from the letter read by Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
- Various names in the film are taken from Twelfth Night, although the roles in the film bear little or no similarity to their namesakes. These character names are: Malvolio (the name of Malcolm's tarantula), Feste (Malcolm's last name), Valentine (Monique's last name), Andrew and Toby (Duke's soccer buddies), Maria (Olivia's friend) and Antonio (Paul's last name)
- Stratford Country Club is a reference to Stratford-upon-Avon.
- "Illyria", the name of the school, is also the name of the country in which Twelfth Night is set, and "Cornwall", the name of Viola's former school, is the name of the country Viola and Sebastian were originally from in the play.
- Sebastian is returning from London on the twelfth, which relates to the name Twelfth Night.
- Orsino, Duke of Illyria becomes simply Duke Orsino ("Duke" being his forename).
References
External links
