She's the Man



"Duke wants Olivia who likes Sebastian who is really Viola whose brother is dating Monique so she hates Olivia who's with Duke to make Sebastian jealous who is really Viola who's crushing on Duke who thinks she's a guy..."

- Tagline for the movie

She's the Man is a 2006 teenaged Romantic Comedy starring Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show) and Channing Tatum. Not a critically acclaimed film (then again many romantic teen films are generally not), it bears some resemblance to Twelfth Night, clearly an attempt to capitalize on the success of 10 Things I Hate About You which updated The Taming of the Shrew. While not as close of a High School AU as 10 Things I Hate About You was to its source material (nor as big of an success) it has its moments.

Basically, Tomboy Viola (Amanda Bynes) is intensely into soccer, so much that when her school, Cornwall, cancels the girl's soccer team and refuses to let her play on the boy's soccer team she hatches a brilliant plan to show them and her JerkAss ex-boyfriend that a girl can play just as well as a boy. Basically, Viola has a twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk, no not that one), to whom we can pretend she is similar in appearance, and this brother has decided to run off to London for two weeks to play with his rock band just before he is to start at Corwall's rival school, Illyria. The perfect timing for Viola to pretend to be her twin at his new school and play soccer on their boy's team. Contrived Coincidence? We think not!

With the help of a Gay Best Friend, Viola becomes Sebastian!Viola, enters Illyria, and voilà! (the pesky problem of how their parents aren't realizing what's going on is that Illyria is a boarding school and the parents are divorced, so both Viola and Sebastian simply tell each that they are staying with the other, because it's not like divorced parents ever call each other to care for their children.) Her roommate is Duke, the eventual Love Interest, obviously but Sebastian!Viola has problems at first because of Sebastian's permanent record (he's a troublemaker, what can we say) and the fact that Viola is still a girl. Eventually with the sprinkling of Magical Queer magic, Sebastian!Viola is accepted into Duke's group of friends but is still second string for the boys soccer team.

Enter Olivia who becomes Sebastian!Viola's lab partner, though Duke has a massive crush on her. Duke, who has issues talking to girls, tells Sebastian!Viola this and asks for her his her help. And so begins the Love Dodecahedron as described in the poster (see above)

The film contains examples of:
""I see you through my window, as I'm standing on a tree outsideeee.""
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Viola loves Duke, who loves Olivia, who loves Sebastian, who is actually Viola. Eventually they get it all sorted out happily, though.
 * Always Camp
 * Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Monique in the bathroom stall while Viola and Olivia are talking.
 * Billy Elliot Plot: The basic plot revolves around the fact Viola isn't taken seriously as a female footballer.
 * Brick Joke: "Do you like cheese? My favorite's Gouda."
 * Butt Monkey: Malcolm, who plays the character of Malvolio in the original.
 * Chewing the Scenery: Amanda Bynes bites into the scenery and doesn't let it go when she's playing Sebastian.
 * Compressed Hair: Viola's long, thick hair somehow fits underneath a fairly short wig. While any cosplayer can tell you it's possible with a wig cap and hair grips, Viola's shown to wear the wig directly on top of her hair.
 * Different As Night and Day
 * Eek! a Mouse!
 * Mr. Fanservice: Channing Tatum, who spends a lot of the movie without a shirt on.
 * Everyone Loves Blondes: Olivia Lennox has Duke and Malcolm chasing her and the rest of the guys admiring her but she would rather have the honest Sebastian.
 * Fundraiser Carnival
 * Gender Bender: Confusion all around when no-one can seem to tell that Viola is Sebastian...
 * Gretzky Has the Ball: Sebastian!Viola convincing the coach to put her back into play after the real Sebastian had been substituted.
 * Groin Attack: When Viola gets hit by the soccer ball. Could also be a Crowning Moment of Funny
 * Half-Identical Twins: Viola can get away with looking like Sebastian, but she clearly is...er...a girl.
 * High School AU: Of Twelfth Night.
 * Hilarity Ensues: Everything gets messed up just in time for the climax at the soccer game. It's Shakespeare. Seriously.
 * Hooked Up Afterwards: Several characters such as Olivia and Sebastian (the real one), Justin and Monique and also its hinted that Andrew and Paul get together.
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: "I've gotta go change my...feet."
 * Incoming
 * Is It Just Me?
 * Love Dodecahedron: The tagline pokes fun at this.
 * My Sibling Will Live Through Me: Viola lives through Sebastian...well, just his life really.
 * Mythology Gag: Numerous references to lines from the original play come up, either slightly altered ("You're weaving a really tangled web here") or direct ("Some have greatness thrust upon them"). And although Malvolio's character in the original play is replaced by a guy named Malcolm, Malcolm's pet tarantula is named Malvolio.
 * No Periods, Period: The tampax moment. One of the most hilarious parts of the movie.
 * Out-of-Character Moment
 * Pair the Spares: Olivia and Sebastian? They don't know each other and Viola just gets them together at the end of the soccer game.
 * Taken straight from the source material in all fairness. Made just as little sense there, but still, it's the genre.
 * In some ways it makes more sense than the source material. Introducing your brother to your friend who you think will be good for him and then them going to a party together is rather less silly than the actual marriage that happens in the play.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: It's fairly obvious, when Sebastian and Viola are on screen together, that no-one could possibly confuse them for the same person.
 * Lampshaded and justified in the beginning. No one at the school had seen Sebastian before. Afterwards, that's a little less plausible.
 * Pet Homosexual: Paul.
 * Sarashi: Viola binds her chest with bandages.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Probably how Olivia sees Sebastian and Duke not knowing Sebastian is actually a girl.
 * Setting Update
 * Share the Male Pain
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Out of all the guys who likes her, Olivia prefers honest Sebastain (who is actually Viola in disguise). She would later meet and fall in love with the real Sebastain.
 * Sound Effect Bleep
 * Stalker with a Crush: Duke to Olivia.
 * Also Malcolm to Olivia


 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Viola whenever she's dressed as Sebastian.
 * Sweet on Polly Oliver: Duke's reaction to Viola when she's dressed as Sebastian
 * Tomboy: Viola, as much as her mother wants her to be a "lady"
 * Twelfth Night Adventure: Well, it is based on Twelfth Night...
 * Twin Switch
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: Viola and Sebastian look strangly alike
 * Mentioned in the audio commentary when they discuss the difficulty of casting a man who looked like Amanda Bynes.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Channing Tatum. In several scenes. Yay.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Viola
 * Willing Suspension of Disbelief: The audience can pretend Viola looks like Sebastian. It works fairly well.