Day 131: Just One of the Guys

"Dresses like Elvis Costello, looks like the karate kid – I'm gonna get him."

Just One of the Guys is the first teen comedy in recent memory to use Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a reference point. Guys influenced countless other studio execs to do the same, whether it was the "bigwigs" over at the Disney Channel who gave audiences the criminally overlooked "masterpiece" Motocrossed!, or whether it was the "tour-de-force" performance given by Amanda Bynes in She's the Man, Just One of the Guys changed the game when it came to adapting shit, and is one of the prime examples of a remake done right. Full analysis after the jump.

Just One of the Guys focuses on aspiring teenage journalist Terry Griffith(Joyce Hyser) and her ambition to work as a newspaper intern. She fails to succeed in reaching her goal after she loses a city run competition at each school where each student has to submit an article worthy enough of winning the internship. Terry starts bitching and moaning to the schools faculty adviser because she felt her article was God's gift to the world or some shit, dude just told her straight up "Your shit's weak." Terry storms out of the adviser's office screaming sexual discrimination accusations to her best friend(Toni Hudson) and her sex-crazed little brother with "Kirk Cameron" hairstyle to boot (Billy Jane) about her work not being taken seriously just because she is a woman. Due to this realization, she decides to masquerade as a boy to get what she wants with the help from her little brother Buddy. With her parents out of town, she decides to enroll at a rival high school, but Terry comes to find out that being a boy comes with a lot of complications, like going to the bathroom, gym, or catching the eye of several hot babes.


Terry is obviously way in over her head. One highlight of her experience as a boy was meeting and eventually falling in love with the nerd with a heart of gold, Rick Morehouse. The second half of the movie deals with Terry conflicted with her feelings for Rick while still being able to keep her cover as a boy. Just One of the Guys is a common tale of mistaken identity capped off with the iconic scene where Terry is forced to show her incredible rack to Rick, when her ex-boyfriend(Leigh Mccloskey) figures out what she's been up to this entire time sneaking around and countless other shenanigans. All in all though, things end up happily ever after for our protagonists, solid movie and comes highly recommended if you're looking to just sit back and watch a second-tier high school comedy.