April 03, 2006

MOVIES: She's the Man (Andy Fickman, 2006)

This adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night moves the story to a high-school setting, which works surprisingly well.

You remember the basic story: Viola has been shipwrecked in Illyria, and disguises herself as her twin brother Sebastian (who has apparently been killed in the wreck) since it is not safe for a single woman to travel alone. She winds up in the court of Duke Orsino, and finds herself falling for him; Orsino has eyes only for Olivia, who is mourning her brother and will accept no suitors. Nevertheless, Orsino sends "Sebastian" to her court to make his case, and Olivia is strangely drawn to the boyish youth. In the end, the real Sebastian turns up, not dead after all, allowing for a happy ending of Olivia-Sebastian and Viola-Orsino pairings.

The biggest obstacle in a contemporary setting is finding a pretense to get Viola into male disguise, which She's the Man does by making Viola a soccer player with nowhere to play after Cornwall High cuts the girls' soccer team and the coach refuses to let her try out for the boys' team. Desperate to prove that she's good enough, she goes undercover as her brother at the private school Illyria (Sebastian having been thrown out of Cornwall) and joins their boys' team, planning to prove herself at the Cornwall-Illyria game. (Where is Sebastian all this time? Why, he's traipsed off to London for two weeks with his band, and no one at Illyria has yet met him.)

Once that's out of the way, the rest of the plot follows Shakespeare quite faithfully. "Sebastian" moves in with roommate (and Illyria soccer star) Duke Orsino; Duke likes Olivia, who's getting over a bad breakup; Olivia likes "Sebastian," who likes Duke. Viola proves her point, and Sebastian returns from London just in time to cause a few last-minute plot complications and allow for the couples to be happily paired off.

This is lightweight stuff, to be sure, but it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's harmless fun. Amanda Bynes is quite likable as Viola, and has a knack for broad physical comedy; she's never even remotely convincing as a boy, but Shakespeare's gender-swap comedies are all about the willing suspension of disbelief. Channing Tatum as Duke is a bit bland, but pretty to look at, and for those (like me) who are shallow enough to notice such things, he takes his shirt off a lot.

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