Welcome back to Movie Recapped.
Today I will show you a comedy, romance, sport film from 2006, titled She's the Man.
Spoilers ahead!
Watch out and take care.
The movie opens with a group of teenagers having fun on the beach.
Our protagonist, Viola Hastings, is playing beach soccer and showing how talented she
is.
After the match is over, her boyfriend Justin Drayton congratulates her with a kiss and
tells her she's already a better player than half his team.
A few days later, Viola and her soccer team are at the school grounds, intending to start
practice, when they discover their team has been cut out because not enough girls signed
up.
Since playing soccer in college is her dream, Viola doesn't accept this and goes to talk
to the boy's team couch, Pistonek, to ask him to let the girls try for the boy's team.
Pistonek laughs at first, thinking is a joke, then refuses, worried about the rivalry match
against Illyria.
At that moment, the entire team -including Justin- comes over to know what's going on,
they also laugh when Pistonek explains.
He tells the girls that they can't join because they aren't as fast, strong, and athletic
as the boys.
Viola asks Justin what he thinks, since he's team captain, and Justin agrees with his coach.
This angers Viola, who reminds him of what he said on the beach about her talent, but
he calls her a liar.
This causes her to break up with him before leaving.
Moments later, Viola is returning home when she's approached from behind by Monique Valentine,
who thought she was her twin brother.
Monique dislikes Viola even if she's her boyfriend's sister, but still asks her to tell her brother
to call her.
Viola insults her before she leaves.
When entering the house, her mother Daphne shows her a surprise: she's bought some dresses
for the debutante party, which Viola has no interest in going to.
After Daphne refuses to sympathize with her troubles, Viola goes upstairs to check on
her brother Sebastian, who is in his room packing.
Viola tells him about Monique then wonders why Sebastian is throwing his bags out the
window, Sebastian is explaining he's going to London for two weeks with his band.
Their divorced mom doesn't know this, he'll be telling her he'll be staying at their dad's,
so he asks Viola to call his school pretending to be Daphne and tell them he's sick.
He then leaves through the window, right before Daphne enters the room to show Viola another
dress.
When Viola turns down the offer again, Daphne tells her she may as well be her brother,
which gives Viola an idea.
Later on, Viola and two of her soccer teammates go to see Paul, a stylist friend of theirs,
to ask him to transform her into Sebastian.
Her plan is to go to Illyria and pretend to be her brother for two weeks so she can join
the soccer team and beat her ex's team in the rivalry match.
Paul is skeptical at first but eventually gives in to the girls' pleads, so we cut to
a montage of Viola's training to be a boy.
They try on different mustaches, she follows men around to copy their mannerisms and they
even get her a binder for her chest.
When the day comes to pull off the plan, Viola is caught leaving by her mom, so she tells
her she'll be at her dad's for two weeks.
Daphne doesn't like this idea because she feels they haven't spent much time together,
so Viola makes her change her mind by telling her she'll spend time with Monique to learn
to be a debutante.
A few hours later, Viola finally arrives at Illyria dressed as Sebastian.
She goes through a bit of panic at first, but after Paul encourages her by reminding
her of all their training, she enters the school.
She's overwhelmed by the big amount of people and stands on campus and, when she makes it
to the hallway with the boy's rooms, disgusted by the smell, but she pushes through and gets
to her new room.
There she meets her roommate Duke Orsino, and the boys from next door, Toby and Andrew
- the three of them are on the soccer team.
Viola starts unpacking and accidentally drops her tampons, which are seen by the three boys.
When they ask about it, she makes up an excuse about using the tampons to stop nosebleeds.
When noon comes, the soccer tryouts start.
When Coach Dinklage announces they'll be doing "shirts vs skins", Viola tells him she must
be a shirt because she's allergic to the sun.
The practice begins and Viola does very well at keeping up with the boys, but when tryouts
are over and the coach announces the strings, she's only chosen for the second one.
They all go to the showers afterward, and Viola is trying to think of an excuse not
to undress when Dinklage comes in and tells her she's been called to the principal's office.
Happy to have an out, Viola rushes there and while waiting for the principal to arrive,
starts to undo her binder, only to quickly stop when she realizes the office's drawers
must have her brother's file.
She opens a drawer and starts searching, but suddenly, Principal Horatio Gold arrives,
causing her to close the drawer in a hurry and getting her binder stuck inside, now she
can't move from there.
Gold doesn't notice, he just moves to stand there with her and welcome her to the school.
Viola gets a chance to untangle her binder when Gold opens the drawer himself to find
the file, and he tells her he was once a transfer student too, so he'll visit her from time
to time to check on her.
Once she's dismissed, Viola leaves the office and accidentally bumps into Olivia Lennox.
Viola apologizes and helps her pick up her books, and this is seen by a suddenly appearing
Gold, who makes an awkward comment about abstinence before getting back in his office.
Without realizing it, Viola slips back into a girl by asking Olivia about her shoes, but
she quickly catches on and fixes her voice to be a dude again.
After saying her goodbyes to Olivia, she goes to the cafeteria to have lunch, sitting with
Duke and his friends.
While chatting about the incoming match against her old school, Olivia arrives at the cafeteria
as well, and Viola learns that Duke likes her, that Olivia recently went through a break-up
and that one more boy likes her, Malcolm Festes.
Malcolm sits next to Olivia and makes her uncomfortable, which makes Viola sympathize
since she's also been vulnerable because of her break-up.
This demonstration of sensitivity isn't well-received by the boys and they leave Viola alone at
the table.
When night falls, Viola goes to the showers, since they'll be empty at that hour.
She's just finishing taking her binder off when Malcolm walks on her and starts scolding
her for not wearing shower shoes, he's interrupted by Duke stepping in and hitting him with his
towel.
Now there are more guys in the bathroom, Viola can't have her shower so she just leaves.
We then cut to a cloudy soccer match.
The team isn't doing well so Viola is asked to step in, but she's wearing a pink filly
dress.
Running is hard and when the time comes where she has to shoot the ball at Justin's goal,
she falls.
Everyone is laughing at her when suddenly water is thrown at her face, waking her up
from the dream.
Various students wearing masks and costumes grab her and the other soccer newbies to put
them through an initiation, which begins by throwing mud at them and taking their clothes
off.
When Viola hears this, she drops to all fours and sneaks past them until she reaches and
activates the fire alarm, ending the whole thing.
The next day, Viola calls Paul to tell him everyone thinks she's a loser and she can't
even play soccer, so maybe she should quit.
Paul can't help her with sports, but he tells her he has an idea to improve her socials.
Later that afternoon, Viola goes to a restaurant where Paul is hiding at the back and Duke
and the boys are having lunch, but they try to ignore Viola when she arrives.
The plan starts then: Viola's two soccer buddies pretend they're her exes and say how much
they miss her in front of everyone, gaining her the respect she wanted from the boys.
Suddenly, a third unplanned girl arrives: Monique.
After rudely turning Andrew down, she asks about Sebastian, the boys point at Viola.
Monique goes after her, so Viola starts running around the restaurant, finding ways to cover
her face as she gives Monique a big speech about how they're over.
Humiliated, Monique runs out of the restaurant as the crowd claps and whoops for Viola, who
is now invited to sit with the boys.
When Viola goes back to school the next day, everyone pays attention to her now.
She goes to science class, where they have to draw a name from a bowl to decide who will
be their lab partner.
Duke gets Eunice Bates, who Toby likes, and Viola gets Olivia.
Duke asks her to trade but they can't because Viola already said her name aloud.
She moves to sit with Olivia while Malcolm hovers nearby and admits dissection freaks
her out, which impresses Olivia.
Malcolm cuts in and steals a paper sheet from Viola, which has some of Sebastian's lyrics
on it.
Olivia rescues the sheet and reads the lyrics, she loves them.
After class is over, Duke takes Viola aside to talk to her and offers a deal: if she puts
in a good word for Duke to get Olivia to date him, Duke will in return help her improve
her soccer skills.
Viola obviously agrees, so we cut to a montage of Viola's school life the following days:
lots of extra soccer training, working at the lab with Olivia, and being careful about
not being discovered - that includes pretending to be in a lot of pain when a soccer ball
hits her on the groin.
Then we cut to Malcolm, who is telling his tarantula how furious he's about Viola getting
between him and Olivia.
He decides he'll find out why Viola acts so weird and ruin her reputation before picking
up his pet to take it for a walk.
Meanwhile, Viola is outside, taking a call from her brother and constantly fixing her
wig, which is noticed by Gold.
She tells his brother she's taken care of his school issues and he says she was right
about Monique, he'll break up with her.
After he tells her his band is doing great, Viola hangs up and is approached by Gold,
who thinks she's wearing a wig because she's getting bald.
Viole decides to just play along.
A few hours later, it's time for another science class.
After Malcolm tells them his tarantula is lost, Viola tries to convince Olivia to date
Duke, but Olivia says he isn't her type.
After admitting they feel very comfortable with each other, Viola tells Olivia she isn't
her type either, so she insists on her dating Duke.
Olivia replies she'll consider it.
When Viola returns to the dorms in the evening, she gives Duke the news, and he's glad but
also nervous because he doesn't know how to talk to girls.
Viola pretends to "act like his sister" to help him practice, and they're having a nice
little chat about cheese when they suddenly discover Malcolm's tarantula is in the room.
Both of them scream and jump on the bed, freaking out non-stop until the tarantula leaves through
the door.
Duke asks Viola to never do the girl's voice again when they're interrupted by a phone
message from Daphne, reminding Viola of the carnival happening the next day, which both
twins must go to.
Duke, Monique, and Olive are also going to be there, which adds more stress to Viola's
charade.
The next day, Viola arrives at the carnival with the boys, Olivia passes by and tells
them to come see her at the kissing booth.
When Monique also shows up, Viola ditches the boys and runs to the bathroom to change
into her girl clothes.
She goes to see her mother, who reminds her she has the next turn at the kissing booth
and asks about Sebastian.
Viola runs to change again, bumping into Duke -who thinks he may know her- and then Justin,
who wants to get back together, but Viola just slaps him before leaving.
She enters a whirling game similar to the teacups, where she gets dizzy but still manages
to change into her Sebastian costume.
Monique finds her when she gets off the ride, so Viola runs and finds Paul and her soccer
teammates, who distract Monique while she enters a bouncing castle to change into her
dress again.
We then cut to the kissing booth, where Duke is looking forward to kissing Olivia.
But at that moment, Viola arrives to replace her.
Olivia leaves after thinking Viola looks familiar, and Duke comes forward then, obviously nervous.
His kiss with Viola is a bit awkward at first but Viola asks for a second one that gains
intensity, only to be interrupted by a jealous Justin, who exchanges a few words with Duke
before jumping on him to fight him.
The boys roll on the grass and Viola goes after them to try to stop them, they end up
breaking a popcorn stand in their struggle.
Viola's mom arrives then to stop the fight and kick them all out.
When she returns to the dorms in the evening, Duke is using one of her tampons in his nose
as she taught him.
After he tells her what happened, Viola says he should forget about Olivia and date "her
sister" instead.
Duke is unsure of this, and freaks out about the explicit way Viola talks about girls,
showing his sensitive side, which he doesn't want Viola to tell anyone about.
We cut to another soccer training montage, where we learn both Malcolm and Couch Dinklage
have been watching Viola.
After practice, she and Duke are at the gym, and Duke admits he's considering asking Sebastian's
sister out.
They're interrupted by Dinklage, who tells Viola she's been accepted as first string
for the next match.
Meanwhile, Olivia watches them from afar, mooning over Viola.
She decides the only way to win her over is by making her jealous, so she approaches them
and starts flirting with Duke.
Viola tries to stop them from getting together but she fails, now Duke and Olivia have a
date.
Getting desperate, she runs out of the gym and goes after Olivia to tell her she thinks
she and Duke may not be a good match after all.
Olivia thinks her plan is working, so she tells Viola to come with Eunice on a double
date with them.
Later that night, Duke and Olivia are at the restaurant, and their date is going terribly.
But when Viola and Eunice join them, Olivia pretends to be all over Duke and Eunice tries
to do the same with her.
Viola gets uncomfortable so she decides to leave, Olivia ditches Duke to follow her.
We suddenly cut to Sebastian in London, who is calling Monique to tell her he'll be going
home a day earlier and that they need to talk.
The next day, Viola assists one of her mom's social meetings.
Olivia is there too, so Viola glares at her during the whole meal, displaying a lack of
good manners.
When Olivia leaves for the bathroom, Viola follows her and introduces herself properly
- Olivia remembers her from the kissing booth.
Viola asks her about Duke, so Olivia confesses her jealousy plan, making Viola come up with
a speech to convince her to tell everyone the truth.
One of the stall doors suddenly opens and Monique comes out, having heard everything,
and starts a fight with Olivia over Sebastian, which Viola joins to stop her.
Once again, they're found and stopped by a worried mom.
At school the next day, Malcolm is trying to convince Gold of Viola's real gender.
Gold doesn't believe him, but Viola just happens to walk by at that exact moment, talking on
the phone about dresses and heels with her girl's voice.
This is still not enough for Gold to believe it.
Later in the evening, Duke is parking his bike when he sees Olivia running towards a
guy to kiss him - he thinks it's Viola, but in truth, it's the real Sebastian.
Then we cut to Monique entering her room and listening to her messages, she finds out Sebastian
has been in London.
Back to Illyria, Viola is returning to her dorm, where an angry Duke confronts her about
the kiss.
Viola doesn't know what he's talking about but is kicked out anyway.
Meanwhile, Malcolm is doing research and finding out the Hastings are twins when she hears
Sebastian's name being called out in the hallway.
It's Monique, who is trying to get into her boyfriend's room to get an explanation.
Duke opens the door and tells her he's not there, also gives him Viola's phone, which
Monique quickly recognizes isn't Sebastian's.
Malcolm has heard all this and leaves his room to approach Monique, who is picking a
phone call for Viola.
They know the truth now.
In the meantime, Viola is sitting outside and Eunice finds her, inviting her to sleep
in her room.
At the same time, the real Sebastian moves in with Duke.
Morning comes and it's time to get ready for the big match.
While Olivia and Malcolm go to Gold to tell him about Viola, the real Sebastian is dragged
to the changing room with the soccer team because Viola has overslept.
She runs out of Eunice's room and into the soccer field, where both her parents are arriving
after the principal called them - their chat makes them realize Viola hasn't been living
with either of them.
The match begins and Sebastian is, obviously, playing horribly.
But the game is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Gold with Malcolm and Monique,
who announce the truth behind Sebastian: he's really a girl.
In order to prove them wrong, Sebastian lowers his pants and shows a little too much.
Embarrassed, Gold takes Malcolm away and allows the game to continue.
Monique tries to talk to Sebastian, but he tells her they're over before he's sent to
the bench by the coach.
At half-time, Viola drags Sebastian away from the team and explains the situation to him,
he lets her trade places.
After changing into the uniform, Viola asks the coach to give her a second chance, so
he accepts to let her play the second half.
The team continues to have a hard time, however, because Duke is still angry with her and refuses
to cooperate.
Viola tries to talk to him but he refuses to listen, then Justin comes over to confront
and they start a new fight.
The coach and the principal stop them, but when Olivia enters the field to check on her,
Viola realizes she has no choice but to confess the truth.
As she takes off her wig, she tells everyone the whole story and Duke that she loves him.
When asked for more proof, she shows everyone her bare chest.
Hearing her apology, Duke accepts to give her a chance.
Coach Pistonek tries to stop her from playing, but Dinklage tells him his school doesn't
discriminate by gender.
The game continues then, and Viola plays wonderfully.
When a foul is committed against her, she gets the chance to shoot a penalty against
Justin, and she manages to score thanks to Duke's teaching.
Illyria wins the game, and when her parents come to congratulate her on it, Viola convinces
them to have dinner all together as a family.
Olivia approaches them next, and Viola properly introduces her to her brother.
As they leave together, Viola sees Toby finally confessing and kissing Eunice before turning
to Duke, who ignores her.
Much later, Duke is in his room and is suddenly visited by Sebastian, who leaves a box for
him.
Duke opens it and inside there's a big wheel of cheese and an invitation to Viola's debutante
ball.
We then cut to said ball, where Viola is helping the other girls to get ready but not getting
ready herself because she's sad over Duke.
Paul offers himself as her escort, she thanks him but needs to go out for some air first.
Night has already fallen when Viola goes for a walk to the garden, where she sees a shadow
approaching her and thinks it's Duke, but it's just the gardener.
She's about to go back inside when the actual Duke shows up in a tux and confesses he likes
her too.
Back in the ball, the debutantes are making their appearances with their dates.
Monique is with Justin and Olivia with Sebastian.
When Viola's turn comes, they call her name and Paul's, but she shows up escorted by Duke.
They kiss on the stage to everyone's applause.
The movie ends with Viola and Duke happily playing soccer together in the same team in
Viola's school.