Silly but funny

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2014)

When Viola is prevented from playing soccer at school, she devises a plot to save the day by impersonating her brother. This leads to multiple cross-dressing complications and romantic confusions.
This teen comedy is not believable in any way whatsoever, but it is a great deal of fun nevertheless. Inspired by Twelfth Night, it transplants much of Shakespeare's original (including character names) to an American high school setting, and does so fairly effectively. The cast all give terrific performances, but credit must go to Channing Tatum in an early comedic hunk role (presaging things to come) and, especially, Amanda Bynes.
My knowledge of Bynes comes from the single performance of hers which I had seen in Easy A - good, but not a very sympathetic character - and her very public burn-out during 2012/13. In this film she gets to play a girl who is variously tomboyish, feminine, and impersonating a boy. The impersonation fools nobody (except every other character in the film, of course) but the entertainment value is in the impersonation, not its accuracy. Bynes is blessed with a face which is both pretty and cartoony. This enables her to play every facet of Viola very effectively: she can be sexy, funny, broad, pretty and, indeed, all of these at the same time. This film confirms her as a real talent and, if she has indeed retired from acting, I hope that she has found her way to a place where her life will bring her peace.