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PARAMOUNT

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Andy Fickman
Cast:
Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey
Writing Credits:
Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith

Synopsis:
When her brother decides to ditch for a couple weeks, Viola heads over to his elite boarding school, disguised as him, and proceeds to fall for his school's star soccer player, and soon learns she's not the only one with romantic troubles.

Box Office:
Budget:
$20 million.
Opening Weekend:
$10,730,372 on 2623 screens.
Domestic Gross:
$33,741,133.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
French
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French

Runtime: 105 min.
Price: $22.98
Release Date: 3/2/2021

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Director Andy Fickman, Co-Writer/Producer Ewan “Jack” Leslie, and Actors Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman and Alex Breckenridge
• Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Producer Ewan “Jack” Leslie and Producer Lauren Shuler Donner
• “Making the Man” Featurette
• “The Troupe” Featurette
• “Inspired By Shakespeare’s…” Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Music Video
• Trailer


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RELATED REVIEWS


She's The Man [Blu-Ray] (2006)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 22, 2021)

When I first reviewed a teen flick inspired by the work of Shakespeare, it brought me more e-mails than anything else I’ve written. My article about 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You drew out teeny-bopper complaints in droves, as I continued to hear from them for years after its release.

This made me anxious when I chose to write up 2006’s She’s the Man, as I feared it would inspire the same passion. It didn’t.

Based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Man introduces us to teen soccer phenom Viola (Amanda Bynes). When her school cancels the girls’ soccer program, she wants to get them all try-outs for the boys’ squad.

The coach (Robert Torti) forbids this and her boyfriend Justin (Robert Hoffman) stabs her in the back to save face in front of his peers. This results in their breakup as she dumps the cad.

After Viola’s twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) skips school for two weeks to play with his rock band, she gets an idea. Viola decides to impersonate Sebastian, make the boys’ soccer team at his school, and beat her home squad 12 days later.

And that’s when the complications begin. As she deals with trying to make the squad, Viola also finds herself in personal situations that make things more difficult.

She falls for her hunky teammate/roommate Duke (Channing Tatum) but can’t reveal her feelings for the obvious reasons. Duke has the hots for sexy Olivia (Laura Ramsey), but that babe starts to go for “Sebastian”. We watch as all of these threads come to a head.

Given the fact that there have been exactly 982,307 film adaptations of Shakespeare over the years, it takes a lot to create something new and memorable. She’s the Man clearly lacks anything to make it stand out from the crowd. At no point does it become a drag, but it never manages to develop into something truly engaging.

In addition to its derivative nature, the film suffers from an annoying lead performance. Bynes packs her performance with manic mannerisms. She grimaces, snorts and bellows her way through the part but doesn’t bring much else to it.

Sure, I expect a certain level of comic goofiness with this sort of role, but Bynes goes over the top. This becomes an incredibly irritating performance.

With such an aggravating lead, the rest of the movie finds it hard to prosper. That’s too bad since some of the supporting actors do pretty good work.

I felt most impressed by Tatum, as he proved to have more than just good looks as Duke. He offers a surprisingly winning and quirky take on the part.

At times Tatum’s odd line readings make him feel like a cross between Christopher Walken and Bob Goldthwait. He infuses the part with humor and turns Duke into a fun character. It’s no wonder he went on to the biggest career of anyone in this cast.

Unfortunately, there’s just not enough creativity to sustain Man. It doesn’t help that Viola seems like a moron – didn’t she think that living in the boys’ dorm and playing on a soccer team might force her to shower with the guys?

I can suspend disbelief to a degree, but it’s hard to imagine someone in one of those circumstances could pull of the ruse. Dropping both of them on “Sebastian” makes it impossible to accept.

Even without those stretches of logic, She’s the Man simply doesn’t have much going for it. The obnoxious performance from Bynes seriously harms it, but I don’t think a better turn from its lead would have helped much. This is a goofy take on Shakespeare that never manages to evolve into anything memorable.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B-/ Bonus B

She’s the Man appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a good but not great image.

Sharpness appeared acceptably accurate and detailed. A smidgen of softness impacted the occasional wide shot, but most of the flick seemed accurate and well-defined.

Moiré effects and jagged edges presented no concerns, and edge haloes remained absent. A light layer of grain showed up for the movie, but I saw a handful of small specks.

Man went with a natural palette that looked good. The colors seemed appropriately vivid and lively most of the time.

Black levels were fairly deep and rich, and shadows showed nice clarity and smoothness. Expect a more than competent presentation.

Given the teen comedy roots of She’s the Man, I expected little from its DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundfield. Indeed, this was a fairly restricted soundscape that fell in line with films of this genre.

The audio stayed largely focused on the front channels. A few elements like soccer games opened up the surrounds a bit, but there wasn’t a lot of information on display. Music showed good stereo imaging, at least, and the general ambience was fine.

Audio quality was acceptable if less than impressive. Music showed lackluster bass response and could have offered more satisfying depth.

Nonetheless, the track was usually reasonably solid. Speech sounded crisp and distinctive, and effects were clean and clear. Music seemed peppy despite the absence of great low-end. This was an unexceptional mix that earned a “B-“.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD from 2006? The lossless audio added a bit more range to the proceedings.

As for the visuals, they demonstrated the usual format-related improvements. That meant the BD looked better defined and showed superior colors/smoothness. Expect a nice step up in quality, even with the BD’s minor concerns.

Man repeats most of the DVD’s extras, and we open with two separate audio commentaries. The first presents director Andy Fickman, co-writer/producer Ewan “Jack” Leslie, and actors Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman and Alex Breckenridge.

It appears that all of them sit together for this running, screen-specific chat. That keeps things consistently lively, albeit a little chaotic at times.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that we learn a ton about the movie. We get some basic notes about the cast and crew, performance issues and various challenges, sets and locations, and general trivia.

The level of depth remains low, as the track doesn’t provide a great overview of the production. Things usually stay light and fluffy, especially since the young actors like to joke around and rag on each other.

There’s also a lot of praise for all involved and the end product. This becomes a listenable track but not a terribly informative one.

For the second commentary, we get Leslie and producer Lauren Shuler Donner. Both sit together for their own running, screen-specific discussion.

They cover production basics, some of which echo material in the prior commentary. We hear about locations and weather problems, cast and crew, costume and set design, making Bynes look like a boy, music, cut and altered scenes, and general notes.

All of this offers a decent overview of the production. It comes with a fair amount of praise and never develops into anything scintillating, though, as the participants maintain a low-key demeanor.

The piece also fades during the movie’s third act. Nonetheless, it serves as a good complement to the other, rowdier track and provides the superior view of the movie’s creation.

Three featurettes follow, and Making the Man goes for 15 minute, nine seconds. It offers comments from Fickman, Donner, Leslie, Bynes, Tatum, Hoffman, Breckenridge, co-writers Kirsten Smith and Karen Lutz, soccer choreographer Dan Metcalfe, and actors Jonathan Sadowski and David Cross.

The show looks at the development of the script and the adaptation of Shakespeare, finding the director and lead actor, rehearsals and improv, shooting in Vancouver and dealing with the soccer, and some sequence specifics.

I figured “Making” would offer the standard promotional puff piece, but it gives us more than that. Yes, it includes some of the usual happy talk and it repeats a few notes from the prior elements. However, it provides new insights and offers good glimpses of the set. This turns it into a surprisingly useful program.

For the seven-minute, 53-second The Troupe, we find notes from Bynes, Tatum, Donner, Hoffman, Fickman, Breckenridge, Sadowski, Ramsey, Cross, and actors James Kirk, Julie Hagerty, and Vinnie Jones.

This looks at the movie’s actors and gives us various notes about them and their experiences on the set. While “Making” avoided the fluffiness, that problem affects “Troupe”. We hear a lot of praise for all involved. A few decent notes emerge, but not enough to overcome the generic feel.

For the final featurette, we get Inspired By Shakespeare’s…, a four-minute, 27-second piece. We hear from Fickman, Smith, Lutz, and Leslie.

They discuss the parts of the film that emulate Twelfth Night and other Shakespearean allusions. This gives us a tight look glimpse of the references.

Nine Deleted Scenes run a total of 11 minutes, 29 seconds. We find “Burger King” (0:21), “In Hallway With Principal” (2:38), “Dunk Tank” (0:57), “Mom Swings the Hammer” (0:36), “Principal’s Office” (1:15), “Locker Room” (0:27), “The Cheerleaders” (1:35), “Soccer Montage” (2:11) and “Debutante Ball” (1:31).

Most of these provide nothing more than unnecessary filler and aren’t missed. A few throw out exposition with the principal and Malcolm. These are more interesting, but they don’t serve any big purpose.

We can watch these with or without commentary from Fickman, Bynes and Leslie. They give us a few notes about the clips and let us know why the scenes failed to make the movie. We get the basics but not much else in this somewhat bland discussion.

At least they finally address the fact that the Illyria cheerleaders dress in an absurdly provocative manner for high school girls. They don’t explain it, but they laugh about it.

A Gag Reel lasts three minutes, 26 seconds. Should you expect anything beyond the usual collection of goofs and giggles? Nope. This is standard stuff.

Along with the film’s trailer. we end with a Music Video for “Let Go” from Dave Lichens. Both song and video seem quite unmemorable, though at least the clip breaks with tradition and fails to include any movie snippets.

In terms of omissions, the Blu-ray drops a photo gallery and a text commentary. The latter becomes an unfortunate loss, as the trivia track included some good material.

Shakespeare gets an ineffective update via She’s the Man. The movie has some charms but not enough to sustain, partially due to a genuinely irritating lead performance from Amanda Bynes. The Blu-ray provides decent picture and audio along with a pretty satisfying roster of extras. Man might entertain the audience it aims for, but I don’t think many others will get much from it.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of SHE'S THE MAN