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She's the Man

Stupid, even for teenyboppers

By BROOKE HOLGERSON | March 14, 2006

0.5 Stars

PAINFUL RETELLING: She's the Man is based on Twelfth Night.

Amanda Bynes has a pretty dedicated following of tweens, and that’s a good thing for her, since only her most fervent fans will want to sit through this painful retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Bynes’s Viola is a soccer-playing tomboy who when the girls’ team is disbanded shows up at her twin brother’s boarding school impersonating him (he’s off in London) and intent on making the boys’ team. She winds up with the star player as her roommate, whereupon awkward sparks kind of fly. Bynes can be a charming physical comedian, but she makes a terrible boy; stuck in a goofy wig, she overcompensates for not being able to flip her hair around by contorting her face while talking in a weird baritone that sounds like some generic foreign accent. Director Andy Fickman’s lifeless staging immobilizes this screwball farce, and the screenplay sounds stupid for even a teenybopper movie. At least if She’s the Man were on cable, the kids could be disappointed for free.

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