Just One of the Guys

Terry, a high-school senior, thinks the article she wrote was not taken seriously because she is a pretty girl. She cuts her hair, dresses as a boy and enrols at another school. There she sees how boys behave among themselves and falls for one of her friends. The film is not interested in disguise comedy. It is interested in the gaze changing sides: as a girl Terry was constantly looked at, and as a boy she is not seen at all, which gives her both freedom and loneliness. The interesting thing is that she carries the same prejudices as a boy. The form is eighties high-school comedy: corridors, the gym, the prom and the music of the period. The shapes are familiar and the tempo is high. Lisa Gottlieb directed. A woman directing this was rare at the time, and it explains why Terry's point of view sits so firmly at the centre. Joyce Hyser plays Terry and Clayton Rohner the boy she falls for. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties high-school comedy and stories built on identity. Who it is not for: anyone judging the subject by today's standards. The film uses gender as a gimmick and some of the jokes are uncomfortable now.