Adam and Steve (or She's The Man) and She's The Man (or What You Will)

I took in two crowd pleasing comedies the other day. I don't know why I am posting them together but for some reason I have an inkling that there is some reason (and it is not because they both star Julie Hagerty, beloved star of Flying High nee Airplane).

Both were pretty broad comedies, one for the "gay" set and one for the "teenage girl" set. Of course arguments can be made that one of the sets encompasses the other - I'll leave that up to your imagination. Normally I would have run a mile (okay, half a mile) from Adam and Steve, it's the sort of bland, well-meaning comedy that plays to the masses and bores me shitless. It had a couple of trump cards though... Parker Posey, indie film goddess extraordinaire and Mango himself, Chris Kattan (Can you hold the moon in your mouth? Such is Mango!).

They helped marginally but nowhere near enough to lift the film out of the mire of mediocrity. They do share one of the film's funniest exchanges:

Yeah, he is a shrink. I think he knows more about this stuff than us. He has a degree. We just have Oprah.

Oprah has made it impossible for me to have a close relationship with anyone besides Oprah.

She's The Man was holding the aces though: Channing Tatum and Shakespeare.

Channing Tatum...


'Nuff said!

Shakespeare... I've always loved the teen flick updates of the Bard, especially the comedies (which only makes me wonder why I missed A Midsummer Night's Rave). I know they're crap, but they're good crap, and Twelfth Night is one of my favourite plays.

Amanda Bynes was really likeable as Viola/Sebastian and they worked the play pretty well, even if they did castrate Malvolio's plot line a little severely.

What does all this say about me? Am I a fifteen year old girl? Maybe but I hide it well, at least I hope so. I think, teen comedies are so far removed from my reality that I can enjoy them as a spectator (and dream of getting into Channing's shorts). Gay comedies hit too close to home and play off stereotypes that I just don't subscribe to so I'll stick to the morbid, arty European fag films (spaced out with teen flicks, of course).

Tags: movie review, film, gay