We discuss 10 Movies like She’s the Man you must watch. Add these well-recommended and highly-rated films to your watch list.
When She’s the Man came out in 2006, it immediately made waves as a fresh and unique romantic comedy full of hidden identities, love triangles, and engaging performances by the likes of Channing Tatum and Amanda Bynes.
While reviews were mixed, the film did well financially and became one of the few rom-coms from the era to truly stand out. Directed by Andy Fickman, the film follows a young woman named Viola who attends a boarding school called Illyria Prep under the guise of being a man in order to play on the men’s soccer team.
While the idea seems fresh, it actually isn’t. The film is a loose modernization of Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, which is similarly full of love triangles and cross-dressing. It’s one in a small but powerful group of films that adapt classic literature to the modern era, often in cheeky and fun ways.
While these films once seemed prolific (there were three in 1999 alone), they’re slowly starting to come back thanks to Netflix’s rom-coms.
In celebration of how great She’s the Man is at adapting Shakespeare (I promise, it’s so much more fun if you know the Twelfth Night), let’s take a look at some other films that are also adaptations of classic lit.
10 Movies like She’s the Man you must watch
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
The other classic Shakespeare to teen rom-com film is, of course, Gil Junger’s 10 Things I Hate About You. Starring Julia Stiles, the late Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik, the film was well-received at the time both critically and financially. It has become even more popular and is partially responsible for sending Stiles, Ledger, and Gordon-Levitt onto successful careers.
Cruel Intentions (1999)
Also released in 1999, Cruel Intentions is Roger Kumble’s take on the 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses, now set at an exclusive boarding school in Manhattan.
The film, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe as conniving and competitive half-siblings and Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair as two girls who end up caught up in their schemes, has gained a cult following and several derivative works.
Clueless (1995)
Perhaps the best-known film on this list, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless is a clever adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, transporting the story to Beverly Hills in the 1990s. It starred Alicia Silverstone and Brittany Murphy and was also the film debut of Paul Rudd.
Like She’s the Man, it’s not only a smart retelling of the original story. It also is a time capsule for teenage slang in the year it was made.
She’s All That (1999)
There have been several works attempting to modernize Pygmalion, or its better-known adaptation, My Fair Lady. (Is anyone else still upset over Selfie being canceled?) But Robert Iscove’s She’s All That is definitely one of the best, starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, and Paul Walker.
It features a popular guy in high school trying to transform an artsy and awkward girl into a prom queen.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
People sometimes forget that Sharon Macguire’s Bridget Jones’s Diary is a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It stars Renée Zellweger as the titular character, a single woman involved in a love triangle between her boss (Hugh Grant) and a family friend (Colin Firth).
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018)
In the past few years, Netflix has made two different high school adaptations of the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. The first was Ian Samuels’s Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, which starred Shannon Purser, Kristine Froseth, RJ Cyler, and Noah Centineo.
The Half of It (2020)
The other adaptation was a bit more creative: in addition to setting the Cyrano de Bergerac story in high school, it also added a queer element in which the Cyrano character is a lesbian girl helping a jock talk to the girl she also has a crush on
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
It’s not set in a school like She’s the Man, but My Own Private Idaho is another modernization of Shakespeare. Based loosely on Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V, writer-director Gus Van Sant created an iconic piece of queer cinema. It’s become a cult classic, thanks partially to outstanding performances by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, who both undergo a journey of self-discovery.
The Lion King (1994)
You likely already know that Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the inspiration for the Disney classic The Lion King. Yes, it’s a bit different from She’s the Man, but it’s actually similar in the ways that it plays with its original source material to make something that feels much more accessible to its audience.
Easy A (2010)
Rather than being an adaptation of a piece of classic literature like the other works on this list, Easy A was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and plays with the themes of the book within the movie. Will Gluck assembled one of the best teen comedy casts of all time with Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Lisa Kudrow, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci, and Patricia Clarkson.
Do you have any other recommendations for Movies like She’s the Man? Let us know in the comments below.
