Just one of the guys remake moves closer to Twelvth Night (SPOILER material in fourth paragraph)

Rating: 4/10 (17 March 2006)

It's important to realize how much like Just One of the Guys this movie is. A girl is miffed that sexism is keeping her from her goal and switches schools to get a fresh start at her original goal, in the process falling in love with her new male friend and spending much time avoiding the girl who wants her.
The writers seem to be trying to hide the similarity to the 1985 movie by bringing the story a little closer the Shakespeare's Twelvth Night. Indeed, it is more like the play. Eg, her brother is absent most of the time, while the heroine takes tips from her brother in Guys. There is even a little reference to Shakespeare in Love during the costuming montage.
The verdict: Guys is better. It is better acted, better directed, has richer characters and Joyce Hyser makes a better guy than does Amanda Byrnes. Also, the '85 movie has a setting advantage. Cross-dressing inconspicuously was easier with post-glam-rock, new wave, androgynous fashions than it is today with fairly revealing 60's and early 70's throwbacks.
The politics of this movie are a little better. In the original, the sexism addressed is in a professional/intellectual setting (newpaper reporting), this movie addresses sexism in sports, which is a more controversial topic. Additionally, in the end of the original, the moral of the story is that the sexism was all in the lead's head. Fortunately, no such problems here. Unfortunately, Bynes' character manages to play up a lot of other gender stereotypes which the writers could have done well to alter in a movie that deals with a politically charged topic. Also, while there are many fantastic female athletes out there, especially in soccer, who could easily outplay a lot of varsity-level high school boys, Bynes isn't one of them. It makes a lot of the soccer scenes disappointing, as the male players perform exceptional physical feats of ball-control and the one female player looks like she's about to trip over the ball. Not what I would call a great way of pushing people's stereotypes about women athletes.
Finally, I want to say, anyone comparing this movie to Mean Girls is a plant. It doesn't come close. Where Mean Girls took a lesson from Heathers with fantastic archetypal characters who were viciously witty, this movie has no such strengths. The best that can be said for it is that gender roles are always topical, as much in the Elizabethan England as today. But for that, just rent Just One of the Guys.