If you're not familiar with the plot of Twelfth Night it is quite farcical: a woman, Viola, pretends to be a man and befriends a man, Orsino, whom she ends up falling in love with, but he likes another woman, Olivia, who in turn likes Viola (thinking she's a man). Get that? Anyway, She's the Man follows along these lines, but it is centered around teens in high school who play soccer. Bynes' character, Viola, finds that her school's girl's soccer team is cut and after trying unsuccessfully to tryout for the boy's team, she ends up transferring to a rival school and posing as her twin brother Sebastian to be on their boys team. (Why she doesn't transfer and tryout for their girl's team is never addressed, although, neither is whether a girl's team exists at this new school either...) She rooms with Duke (Tatum) and he subsequently helps her win a starting spot on the soccer team, all the while believing her to be Sebastian. Shenanigans and romance ensue.
The supporting characters and actors are appealing, most notably David Cross as the principal of the school (why he did this film I don't know, but I don't care because he's awesome). Viola's friends from her original school are likable and Julie Hagerty and John Pyper-Ferguson play Viola and Sebastian's divorced parents with an air of perfect ignorance. They have an excellent scene in the last several minutes while - SPOILER ALERT - the truth comes out about the gender of Sebastian/Viola. Pyper-Ferguson remarks "this soccer game has more nudity than most." Bynes is funny driving the film's kookyness, and last but not least, Channing Tatum is easy on the eyes.
She's the Man
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