After a disastrous day learning that her soccer team had been cut, being laughed at by a misogynistic coach (Robert Torti) when she asked to try out for the boys' team, and having to dump her equally misogynistic boyfriend (James Snyder), it's not surprising that Viola (Amanda Bynes) has the worst idea of her life: impersonate her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), at his elite prep school, get on their soccer team, and prove everyone wrong. But hiding a secret that big is harder than she expected, especially when she develops a crush on the team captain (Channing Tatum) who is interested in another girl (Laura Ramsey), who is interested in "Sebastian."
This is an adaptation of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and in the grand tradition of classic adaptations set in high school, it works shockingly well. The drama level is commiserate with the setting. I found the "I'm a dude, look at me, being a dude!" humor to fall completely flat but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to. Unfortunately, I also hate comedy based on cringe so it still didn't work for me.
Bynes isn't given enough material to make this work as well as it could have. She's a talented comedienne but this does not play to her strengths. As ever, I hate Channing Tatum, but watching this I can see how far he's come as an actor. Nobody else really stuck out at all. I doubt I'll remember watching this by tomorrow.
A lot of people enjoy this film. Maybe you will be one of them! It's currently streaming on Kanopy if you have a library card.
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