Siobhan McCarthy’s She’s the He gleefully toys with the tropes of the teen comedies of yore, while also lampooning transgender “panic” defenses. Following two teens, Alex (Nico Carney) and Ethan (Misha Osherovich), who pretend to be trans to dispel rumors that they’re gay and to get into the girls’ bathroom, McCarthy’s feature debut subverts the more toxic traits of the aforementioned comedies to its own ends. It’s as funny as it is sweet, and it manages the difficult task of both fashioning a coming-of-age tale that actually feels unique and celebrating its chosen genre by filtering it through a distinctly queer lens.
McCarthy’s shrewdest and most subversive move is their casting of trans and non-binary actors in many of the film’s roles. This not only adds an emotional complexity and richness to Ethan’s journey, as the once straight male character comes to realize they’re actually a trans lesbian, but also a sly knowingness in its presentation of Alex, the horny loudmouth who weaponizes transness to get closer to his crush, Sasha (Malia Pyles).
While it was homophobia that instigated Alex and Ethan’s desire to quash rumors of their being in a relationship, She’s the He is set in a world that’s far more accepting of queerness than those of its influences. Here, sexual fluidity is the norm rather than the exception, and while there’s a sense that it offers a kind of wish fulfillment, McCarthy’s film cleverly pokes fun at the traditional gender binary that typically dominates its milieu.
When Ethan tells Sasha that she doesn’t like makeup, the latter scolds her by saying, “Girls wear makeup and hate their legs. Boys wear baseball hats and don’t wash their ass.” It’s an amusing line that also speaks to the gender expectations that persist even in trans-positive spaces. McCarthy also takes a few amusing stabs at the straight jock bully stereotype, having muscular quarterback Jacob (Emmett Preciado) and his toadies cross-dress later on as they take Alex’s lead and, for more nefarious purposes, force their way into the girls’ locker room.
At times, the film may try a bit too hard to endear itself to us, frequently leaning into cutesy animated flourishes, such as when various words like “screech” and “clang” pop up on screen whenever the sounds are heard. But if its twee quirkiness is occasionally cranked up a bit high and its narrative flow a tad choppy, She’s the He often strikes the right balance between loony satire and heartfelt commentary, particularly in regard to Ethan’s coming of age and discovering of their queerness in a burgeoning romance with non-binary student Forest (Tatiana Ringsby).
Ethan’s relationship with Forest, and the former’s falling out with their unaccepting mother (Suzanne Cryer) and Alex, is ultimately what lends She’s the He its sneaky depth of feeling, especially as Ethan reckons with their identity and sexuality. But even in its darker moments, the film’s nuanced, affirming depiction of queerness tends toward the buoyant. It crams a lot into its breezy 82 minutes, but even when McCarthy’s ambitions exceed their grasp, the film’s charm and the charisma of the performances makes it easy to forgive the script’s limitations.
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