She's the Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

She's the Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 4, 2021

She's the Man is sort of like a reversal of the Ladybugs formula. In that 1992 film, a boy is persuaded to join the girls' soccer team in order to ensure it maintains its winning ways for a coach who is desperate to use the squad as a stepping stone to something better in life. In 2006's She's the Man, a young lady with dreams of playing major Division I collegiate soccer takes her brother's place at a prestigious boarding school to play The Beautiful Game. Predictable insanity ensues, but at the same time a fairly good film with a tender heart and a surprisingly well done romance emerges from the morass of familiar antics.

“If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em.” When Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) begs and pleads to join her school’s boy’s soccer team – her boyfriend even admits she’s a better player than half the guys on the squad – she’s flatly rejected. She’s despondent. She knows she can play with the guys. But she finds her chance when her brother, who should be off to a nearby boarding school, sneaks away to London for a concert. She poses as him in order to try out for the team. She arrives at school, her hair short and her voice deepened, and finds herself rooming with one of the school’s best soccer players, Duke Orsino (Channing Tatum). As Viola, now posing as Sebastian, struggles to emulate the male persona and psyche and finds herself relegated to second string on the squad, it seems like all her efforts were for naught. But she presses forward in hopes of upping her game and, maybe, discovering something at the school she didn’t expect to find.

There are further influences from films like Just One of the Guys which builds a similar core story about a girl posing as a boy to prove her journalistic skills are up to par with her male counterparts. In both films the girls find themselves forced to think fast on their feet to explain away various circumstances that threaten to reveal their identity, awkwardly perform as a boy, and fret over things like shower time after a sweaty athletics practice or gym class. In these areas She's the Man hardly proves creative or original, but the material is elevated thanks to a sincere and agreeable performance from Amanda Bynes who nails the careful balance between maintaining her inner persona in balance with her outward façade and handling both the dangerous moments of potential exposure and the few slips that threaten to reveal her true identity with equal humor and grace.

Interspersed are the crude yet nevertheless fun beats that are like the glue that holds the story's larger essential fabric together. The creative team behind the film nicely balances its structure with mostly familiar humor and predictable story beats but at the same time works hard to ensure that the content doesn't exist for its own sake, that it's backing up and building up worthwhile characters and a decent story at that. She's the Man breaks no new ground -- the material dates back to Shakespeare -- but it does break up a sense of movie monotony. Even through some familiar elements, the rush of charm and agreeable characterization offset most of the recycled content and give the movie some much needed breathing room to allow its own identity to supersede anything borrowed from other sources.

She's the Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It bears repeating that Paramount is releasing some exceptional Blu-rays of late and She's the Man is certainly no exception. This is a gorgeous presentation, handsomely filmic and more than capable of delivering the picture with sure-handed, steady, and highly satisfying detail and color yield. Grain is retained for the duration. It's a fine layer that is consistent in density and flattering to the larger picture, resulting in a pleasing cinematic flavor. It's also sign that the image has not been tinkered with; there is no noise reduction in play, leaving fine details naturally sharp to its film roots. Facial textures are a highlight but so too are odds and ends in dorm rooms, across campus exteriors, and around a carnival grounds midway through the film, to name a few key locations. Every element boasts high quality detailing and natural sharpness. Color output is excellent as well. Tones are bold, firm, and steady in depth and density. There's no fading and no sign of oversaturation beyond a mild uptick inherent to the source. Colors are alive through the spectrum, from colorful clothes to natural greens around the school. Skin tones are perfect and black levels are excellent. Print flaws are difficult to find and encode problems are likewise next to nonexistent. Fans couldn't have asked for more.

She's the Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

She's the Man delivers a manly DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Listeners will identify the track's excellence from the outset. The opening Pop-Rock tune is quite the energetic little piece of music, spilling through the stage with sharp lyrics, potent guitar riffs, and plenty of full immersion stage engagement and subwoofer extension. Such remains true for the rest of the film. Every musical engagement is alive with verge, vigor, and vitality; listeners will never be left wanting. Further, ambient effects around campus, during soccer practice, in lunchrooms or restaurants, at a carnival, anywhere and everywhere the film goes sees the audio offering a springy sense of place, never overbearing but very well balanced and true. The stage is often fully engaged to fine effect. Dialogue is clean, clear, and well prioritized from its grounded front-center position. This is a very strong accompaniment to the excellent 1080p visuals.

She's the Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

She's the Man contains two commentary tracks and a number of additional features. No DVD copy is included with purchase but Paramount has bundled in a digital copy voucher. This release does not ship with a slipcover

• Audio Commentary: Amanda Bynes, Director Andy Fickman, Co-Writer/Producer Ewan "Jack" Leslie and Actors Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman, and Alex Breckenridge deliver a track that's about as expected for this number of participants with this level of working diversity on the film. It's breezy and not always focused on anything important, but there's some good insight amongst the frivolous banter.
• Audio Commentary: Co-Writer/Producer Ewan "Jack" Leslie and Producer Lauren Shuler Donner deliver a more fundamentally sound track that is easier to follow and meatier in terms of delivering worthwhile insight into the movie.
• Making the Man (480i, window box, 15:09): An all-around piece exploring the script and project origins, directing, cast and characters, production, shooting locations, working around the game of soccer, physical prep work for the roles, and more.
• The Troupe (480i, window box, 7:43): A closer look at the cast and the chemistry on the set.
• Inspired by Shakespeare's... (480i, window box, 4:27): A closer look at the film's literary inspirations.
• Deleted Scenes (480i, window box, 11:29 total runtime): Included are Burger King, In Hallway with Principal, Dunk Tank, Mom Swings the Hammer, Principal's Office, Locker Room, The Cheerleaders, Soccer Montage, and Debutante Ball. With Optional Commentary by Amanda Bynes, Andy Fickman and Ewan "Jack" Leslie.
• Gag Reel (480i, window box, 3:26): Humorous moments from the shoot.
• Music Video (480i, window box, 3:23): "Let It Go" by Dave Lichens.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:25)

She's the Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

She's the Man won't be remembered for original content but what the film does well is play old routines with some of the best characterization and flair one's going to find in a movie like this. It's a very agreeable little diversion that finds fun even in familiar elements and builds likeable characters, critical in offsetting the rote framework. Paramount's Blu-ray is excellent. Video and audio are top-notch; really, it's hard to imagine either being any better on this format. Supplements are plenty but they all do carry over from the DVD days. Recommended.