She's the Man

 

'She's the man' is an impossible teen movie and an implausible romantic comedy. The lead (Amanda Bynes) isn't a shopping obsessed, man chasing, silly girl. She is genuinely clever and funny.  If you are still not sold, how about some of this to sway you:

Synopsis 

Viola (Amanda Bynes) plays soccer. She not only loves it, she's also pretty damn good at it. Unfortunately, her school cuts the female soccer team (Money makes the world go round, that clinking, clanking sound). It might be unfair but Viola isn't easily put down. She wants to join the male soccer team. She's rejected, laughed at by the whole guy's team (Don't you know girls aren't as good as boys at sports?). She reaches out to her boyfriend, also a member of a team, to support her and admit that he, just the other day, said she was better than the majority of his team. He lies and denies it and joins in on laughing at her. Viola breaks off the relationship then and there. She also vows to prove they're wrong. She pretends to be her brother and joins, as a boy, his university's male soccer team. The hilarity and gender twisting ensues.

Review

(Before I start, there are spoilers in this review. I will indicate when needed. But, a word of justification, with this type of cinema, I think it's safe to say, we all know the ending. It's the journey that matters)

It's easy to fall into pitfalls of lazy gender cliches reinforcement with so called chick-flicks. First of all, I resent the name. In my vision of the perfect world, we wouldn't have a male nor a female cinema. Chick-flicks would be an awful reminder of an ancient past. An old and forgotten times, when a movie focused on a female market would tell a story of a woman who never feels fullfiled, unless with a male partner. A women who might even have a succesful career but deep down wants a white wedding,  bunch of kids and a closet full of designer clothes. It's also very easy to repeat the gender stereotypes in a film where a man dresses up as a woman or vice versa. The fact they changed clothes doesn't really make any difference. Boys are still typical boys, same goes for girls. Also, it's always so funny to see a man wearing a dress, isn't it?

'She's the man' might sound like yet another one of those movies. It's not only anything but: it's so much more! Viola doesn't dress up like a boy to get a guy. She does it to prove she is equal to a man. She does it to follow her passion. Not once during the whole movie does she need to be saved. ( Spoilers!) In fact, she saves the whole male team. She might be ending up with a guy on her shoulder. But, it's her who gets the guy. NOT the other way round. 

This movie's better than any other teen movie you've ever seen. It's better than 'Bend it like Beckham' which might show some strong girls but they still play on their designated female field. Viola crosses that artificial border. All in all, it's an effortlessly funny (the whole cast is amazing) and very clever movie.

IMDB Page