Amanda Bynes Best Comedy Features A Major Action Star And Its Now A Streaming Success
Amanda Bynes's surprise hit comedy, She's the Man, was one of Channing Tatum's earliest roles and it's now available on Paramount+.
Score! As reported by FlixPatrol, 2006’s She’s the Man hit the #2 spot on Paramount+’s top ten this week. The film helped launch the career of heartthrob Channing Tatum, and it remains a signature role for its leading lady (and man), former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, She’s the Man follows Amanda Bynes in a gender swap comedy for the ages. When her high school cuts the girls’ soccer team, Bynes infiltrates a prep school disguised as her AWOL brother in order to join the soccer team and prove her worth as a player.
Amanda Bynes finds herself rooming with Duke, the stud soccer captain played by Channing Tatum. As Bynes falls for Tatum, an intricate web of love and lies spins the school into swirling comedy, punctuated by performances from Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, and David Cross.
The film was written by Andy Fickman and the duo behind Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You, Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith. Amanda Bynes and the film’s fish-out-of-water premise proved to be a box office draw. The film earned $57 million, more than doubling its approximately $25 million budget.
In 2006, Channing Tatum was a relatively unknown actor. Amanda Bynes lobbied for Tatum to be cast in the film, despite him being 26 at the time, believing audiences would welcome his good looks with open arms. After some convincing, Bynes got her way, and Channing Tatum found himself plastered on many bedroom walls.
Though Tatum’s performance in the movie was a target for critics, the balance of a dual persona from Amanda Bynes was largely praised. Bynes recalled the role as a distinct challenge but an ultimately rewarding part to figure out. She pulled the character off successfully, but Bynes admitted years later that the role impacted her self-image; only 20 years old at the time of the film’s release, she was insecure about how she looked on screen as a boy.
Mental health has been an ongoing issue for Amanda Bynes. She grew up a child star on Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy show All That, and then on her own series, The Amanda Show. Bynes worked consistently as an actor until her role in 2010’s Easy A, after which her mental health and substance abuse struggles compromised her career.
In the 2010s, Amanda Bynes wrestled with drugs, alcohol, and bipolar disorder. A 2012 DUI was compounded by drug charges and reckless endangerment in 2013; Bynes allegedly started a fire in a stranger’s driveway in Thousand Oaks, CA. The incident led Bynes to short-term institutionalization and a conservatorship under her parents.
The conservatorship was a rocky road for Amanda Bynes, but in 2018, the star proclaimed that she had gotten sober after years of experimentation with various drugs. With the support of her parents, Bynes filed to end her conservatorship in early 2022. Her newfound freedom seemed to be a good sign, and she was set to make her first appearance in over a year at 90s Con to reunite with the stars of All That.
However, recent battles with bipolar disorder led Amanda Bynes to cancel the appearance. She was seen wandering naked in Hollywood on Sunday, March 19. She flagged down a passerby to call 911 for help. Bynes was committed to a psychiatric hospital for a 72-hour hold.
Many have lauded Amanda Bynes for taking the initiative to get help despite her very public episode. Fame at an early age has paid off for Bynes in the tragic way it has for so many child actors. Supportive fans have been a welcome sign on social media.
As Amanda Bynes fights her mental health battles, the legacy of her early career endures. She’s the Man cemented itself as a cult classic for a generation growing up in the 2000s, making a movie star out of Bynes and minting Channing Tatum as an enduring heartthrob. The film did not work for many critics, but audiences continued to return to the film years later.
The future of Amanda Bynes is uncertain, but her body of work built a fanbase that continues to cheer her on through her struggles. The world wants to see Bynes succeed, regardless of the form that success needs to take for the star. If anyone can do it, Amanda Bynes can. After all, she’s the man.
She’s The Man can be streamed on Paramount+.
