DVD Movie Guide @ dvdmg.com
.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main
PARAMOUNT

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Andy Fickman
Cast:
Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman, Jonathan Sadowski, Alex Breckenridge, Julie Hagerty, Vinnie Jones, David Cross, Amanda Crew, Jessica Lucas
Writing Credits:
Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith

Tagline:
Everybody has a secret ... 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 ...

Synopsis:
Amanda Bynes proves that girls can do anything guys can do in She's The Man.

The laughs are non-stop when Viola (Byrnes), disguised as her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), joins the boys' soccer team and helps win the big game while unexpectedly falling for Duke (Channing Tatum) the hot star forward. Viola discovers that dealing with high school politics and twisted love triangles is a major challenge when you're a guy who's really a girl!

She's The Man features an ensemble cast of up and coming stars and hit songs from OK-Go, The Veronicas & The F-ups. It's perfect for good time summer fun!

Box Office:
Budget
$20 million.
Opening Weekend
$10.730 million on 2623 screens.
Domestic Gross
$33.687 million.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Widescreen 1.85:1/16x9
Audio:
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby 2.0
Spanish Dolby 2.0
French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned

Runtime: 105 min.
Price: $29.95
Release Date: 7/18/2006

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
• “Shakespeare, Soccer and Such” Trivia Track
• “Making the Man” Featurette
• “The Troupe” Featurette
• “Inspired By Shakespeare’s…” Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Cast Photo Album
• Music Video
• Trailer
• Previews


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Sony 36" WEGA KV-36FS12 Monitor; Sony DA333ES Processor/Receiver; Panasonic CV-50 DVD Player using component outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Sony SA-WM40 Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS


She's The Man (2006)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (July 12, 2006)

When I last 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 brought out teeny-bopper complaints in droves; I continued to hear from them for years after its release.

Will this examination of 2006’s She’s the Man inspire the same passion? Doubtful, but time will tell. 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, partially because I previously viewed him as very limited. I don’t remember him from 2005’s Coach Carter, but I’ve recently seen promos for Step Up. Those make him look like an incompetent actor, but that’s not the truth.

Indeed, Tatum proves to have more than just good looks as Duke. He offers a surprisingly winning and quirky take on the part. At times his 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.

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 DVD Grades: Picture B-/ Audio B-/ Bonus B+

She’s the Man appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Most of the flick looked fine, though it wasn’t a memorable presentation.

Sharpness usually appeared acceptably accurate and detailed. At times, however, I found the image to come across as somewhat fuzzy and soft, with lesser definition seen in some of the wide shots. Nonetheless, most of the movie appeared clear and appropriately focused. Moiré effects and jagged edges presented no concerns, but a bit of edge enhancement appeared. No source flaws caused any distractions.

Colors were fairly accurate, though they seemed to be a little murky at times. While they generally appeared acceptably vivid and bright, they lacked tremendous tightness at all times. Black levels were fairly deep and rich, but shadows were a little flat and muddy. The highlights were enough to boost this to a “B-“, but some disappointments came along the way.

Given the teen comedy roots of She’s the Man, I expected little from its 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-“.

Man comes equipped with a surprisingly large roster of extras. 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.

More information comes via a trivia track. Called “Shakespeare, Soccer and Such”, it hits on the expected topics. We discover info about cast and crew, shooting specifics, music, Shakespearean influences, details of elements in the flick like soccer and other trivia bits. Of the three alternate ways to view the movie, this one proves the most informative. It mixes the somewhat superficial notes about Altoids and the Union Jack with solid details about the film’s creation and fun facts like improvised lines. Of course, some of this repeats from the other sources, but we get plenty of unique details in this fine presentation.

Three featurettes follow. Making the Man goes for 15 minutes and seven seconds. It offers the standard mix of movie clips, behind the scenes shots, and interviews. We hear 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 and 51-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… In this four-minute and 26-second show, 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, 17 seconds. We find “Burger King” (0:21), “In Hallway With Principal” (2:37), “Dunk Tank” (0:56), “Mom Swings the Hammer” (0:35), “Principal’s Office” (1:16), “Locker Room” (0:25), “The Cheerleaders” (1:36), “Soccer Montage” (2:01) and “Debutante Ball” (1:28). 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, 25 seconds. Should you expect anything beyond the usual collection of goofs and giggles? Nope. This is standard stuff.

Stills show up in the Cast Photo Album. 40 pictures appear here and mix publicity and candid snaps. Some will be pleased to find more shirtless shots of Tatum – does the guy own clothes? – but otherwise this is a bland collection. We also find 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.

Along with a trailer for Man, the DVD includes some ads. We get clips for Over the Hedge, Failure to Launch, All You’ve Got and Laguna Beach. These appear in the disc’s Previews area and also start the DVD.

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 DVD provides decent picture and audio along with a pretty satisfying roster of extras. Man might entertain the teeny-bop audience it aims for, but I don’t think many others will get much from it.

Viewer Film Ratings: 4.5076 Stars Number of Votes: 65
535:
34:
2 3:
32:
41:
View Averages for all rated titles.

.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main