Pleasantly decent

Rating: 6/10 (13 June 2014)

The only thing I knew about this cast was Bynes did some work on Nickelodeon and Tatum had a string of teen flicks, neither of which I've watched before. Had a pretty low expectation given the genre so it was pretty pleasant to find out it wasn't as horrible as I anticipated it to be.
Bynes was amusing enough (borderline annoying if your threshold is pretty low) during the whole OTT girl went undercover as boy disguise mission. Her mannerisms were similar to that of Bullock circa Miss Congeniality although I find Bynes being better in the silly department whereas Bullock excels better in bringing the romance into romantic comedy lead.
Tatum made great eye candy although 'twas pretty painful to watch him go through the more serious scenes - like him telling Viola (as Sebastian) off in treating woman badly. He fared slightly better during silly scenes - like whenever he had to act all nervous every time he talked to Olivia.
The supporting cast really shone here. I've always had a fondness for Jones so I'm thrilled anytime I see him (doubly so here since I didn't know he was cast). Cross did a great job along with Torti as well as Viola/Sebastian's crew in supporting her/him with the transformation and Duke's silly frat entourage.
I could enjoy this a lot more if the subplot of Duke and Viola hooking up didn't feel so artificial and forced but alas, (i) romantic (/i) comedy sells better than straight up laugh in your face humour especially whenever we have a female lead. After all, it (i) was (/i) based on the Shakespeare's Twelfth Night play