She's the Man

DVD review from The Movie Snob

She’s the Man (C). I have often wondered why my good friend Wendy and I hardly ever go to the movies together. Then she signed up for Netflix, and the reason became obvious when she told me the movies she had put at the head of the queue: Failure to Launch, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, and Aquamarine. Oh my, I thought. How I managed to drag her to Capote is quite a mystery. Anyway, I knew this little trifle was based on a Shakespearean play (Twelfth Night, according to the credits), so I willingly watched it with Wendy. I chuckled a few times, and she assured me that 13-year-old girls would love it. Viola (Amanda Bynes) is dismayed when her high school (or is it a college? I was never clear about that) cancels the girls’ soccer program. (Can they do that under Title IX?) So she disguises herself as her twin brother Sebastian and goes to his school, Illyria, where she hopes to make the boys’ soccer team and teach her old school a lesson. Romantic complications ensure when Viola falls for her roommate, Duke Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with "Sebastian" (who is really Viola). Predictable, but cute enough.