She’s the Man 15th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray review

May 29, 2021- Permalink

Paramount Home Entertainment released the She’s the Man 15 Anniversary Edition back on March 2nd, 2021, but due to a shipping delay, I only recently got my hands on a review copy, so let’s take a look. The movie, which stars Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum, has Bynes dreaming of playing Division I collegiate soccer and so she takes her brother’s place at a prestigious boarding school. Typical teen mishaps, romance, and hilarity ensue with a Shakespearean inspiration. Whereas 10 Things I Hate About You was inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, She’s the Man gets its foundation from Twelfth Night, right down to the character names of Viola and Duke Orsino.

The 1080p AVC-encoded digital transfer is in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, just off of the theatrical release’s 1:85:1 aspect ratio. Paramount hasn’t tossed this off quickly as “just some teen comedy” and has given us a very good video presentation. The image is sharp with great detail in facial features, sets, and exterior environments. Shot on film, the presentation has a light grain throughout, giving it a pleasing filmic look. The colour palette is solid throughout, and ranges from clothes with popping primaries to natural greens on the soccer field. Excellent black levels and contrast and you’ll have to hunt high and low to find digital noise or compression artifacts. It looks great.

On the audio side, we get an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are included for English, English SDH, and French. The film has a good pop/rock soundtrack and here it’s presented with a dynamic tone and even engages your subwoofers. Ambient effects place you in environments like the soccer games and classrooms and dialogue is clear and centred. Just like the video presentation, the audio presentation is top-notch.

The disc comes with a digital code and a nice little collection of extras. There are two audio commentaries: the first, with director Andy Fickman, co-writer Ewan “Jack” Leslie and castmembers Bynes, Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman, and Alex Breckenridge is a little more conversational than informative, while the second track, with co-writer/producer Ewan “Jack” Leslie and producer Lauren Shuler Donner gives us more in-depth background on the production. There’s a fifteen minute look at the scrip, casting and other production matters, a look at the cast, a piece on its Shakespearean connections, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a music video, and the theatrical trailer.

The She’s the Man 15 Anniversary Edition has great audio and video and a nice bunch of extras. If you have fond memories of this comedy from your teen years, this is a good disc to add to your physical media library.