Starring Amanda Bynes and Vinnie Jones. Rated PG. For showtimes, please see page 84

The things that look most certain to your average 17-year-old turn out to be pretty fluid after all. That's the central premise of She's the Man, a genial gender-bender playing footsy with sexual politics while giving intermittent nods to William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night-one of those "trouser comedies" that prove we didn't invent cross-dressing anytime recently.

The kid with the, um, variable wardrobe here is Viola, played authoritatively by young TV veteran Amanda Bynes. When the girls' soccer squad at her snooty prep school is axed, she decides to play for the other team, as it were. An opportunity comes up when her twin brother, Sebastian (Vancouverite James Kirk), bails out on the first two weeks at his new school. Hell, she's watched a lot of MTV, and knows pretty well how the average asshole behaves.

Viola-as-Sebastian's roommate is played by Channing Tatum, who is not, as far as we know, the love child of Stockard Channing and Tatum O'Neal. Called Duke Orsino (get the Shakespeare reference?), the beefy young man has a debilitating crush on sweet blonde Olivia (Laura Ramsey) who, in turn, pashes on Sebastian, mainly for his unusual sensitivity.

Of course, actually dropping the tom from tomboy turns out to be a bit more difficult, even for the superconfident Viola. And most of the movie's fun comes from watching her improvise tough-guyisms in one tricky situation after another. Her stitched-together patois of rap-speak and good-ol'-boy jock talk isn't exactly convincing, but it does underline the idea that "real" teenagers are generally faking it while playing sex roles they've been assigned.

It's not clear how aware the filmmakers are about issues like this, although two of the writers were also behind 10 Things I Hate About You, a similarly semi-smart take on The Taming of the Shrew. While trusting the foreground antics to the talented if somewhat unrestrained Bynes, director Andy Fickman luckily seems a bit more interested in surreal side characters played by Julie Hagerty (the hysterically feminine mother), Vinnie Jones (the beyond-macho soccer coach), and-best of all-David Cross (as the creepily overfriendly headmaster).

The film, ostensibly set in some southern clime where debutantes still roam the earth, was shot in Vancouver, with locations such as Kits Beach, Jericho Park, and Thunderbird Stadium enjoyably recognizable. Among familiar faces, local favourite Emily Perkins makes much of an essentially thankless role as a brace-faced geekette.