Movies

01:00 AM EST on Friday, March 17, 2006

BY MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer

William Shakespeare's gender-switching comedy Twelfth Night has been retrofitted by writer-producer Ewan Leslie into the genial teen film She's the Man, about a girl who pretends to be her twin brother so she can get a berth on an all-boys soccer squad.

Although the idea seems a little overbroad at first, director Andy Fickman (Reefer Madness: The Musical) and his young cast give it a light touch, turning it into a sometimes manic farce that's a true comedy of errors. It's a movie for the Princess Diaries crowd, although it sometimes treads a little older with its jabs at sexual identity.

Leslie's original draft, reworked by writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is geared to young teens. All the adults are over-the-top silly; Amanda Bynes (of the film What a Girl Wants and the TV series What I Like About You, has her head on her shoulders in her anything-you-can-do determination. It leads her into dangerous walking-on-eggs territory, though.

Bynes' Viola (all the character names are straight out of Shakespeare) knows she's as good as any boy player on a soccer field. But when her school cuts the girls' soccer squad, she stuffs her long hair under a mop-top wig, puts on a shirt and tie, trousers and blazer and enrolls at a prep school as her twin brother, Sebastian. The real Sebastian (James Kirk) has conveniently gone on the lam to play a rock band gig in London. So, with a put-on deep voice and some mannish mannerisms -- all of which come and go awkwardly -- Viola tries to pass for a boy.

Of course, there are plenty of missteps along the way. The gym shower is obviously a major obstacle. So is Sebastian's annoyingly clinging ex-girlfriend Monique (Alex Breckenridge), who refuses to take no for an answer, eventually turning up at Sebastian's school to get "him" to change his mind.

Then there's the matter of Sebastian's roommate, a good-looking guy named Duke (Channing Tatum) who's on the soccer team. Viola begins falling for him. But he has a crush on Olivia (Laura Ramsey), who is going out with the sneaky Malcolm (James Snyder), at least until he meets Viola at a carnival where she's selling kisses and . . . well, you get the picture.

That carnival sequence leads to a midway full of farcical fun as Viola must keep switching genders from Sebastian to Viola and back again, at one point changing clothes while spinning on the tilt-a-whirl.

Another time, when Viola fears Duke and his pals are getting too close to her real identity, she enlists the help of her hairdresser buddy (Jonathan Sadowski) in recruiting a couple of knockout gals to throw themselves at "Sebastian." Suddenly Viola's Sebastian has earned the reputation as a lady killer and the other guys begin asking for pointers on how to make a girl happy.

She's the Man gets brighter and funnier as the real Sebastian returns from London and Viola's masquerade grows dangerously close to being unmasked. But all's well that ends well, as Shakespeare put it. She's the Man neatly ties up all its loose ends in a very satisfying way.

mjanuson@projo.com / 401-277-7276

****

She's the Man

Starring: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, David Cross, Julie Hagerty, Robert Hoffman, Alex Breckenridge, Jonathan Sadowski.

Rated: PG-13, contains adult themes.