Fille ou garçon

This amusing 1985 gender bender is a reminder of Victor/Victoria, but only as a comedy not a musical. Terry played by Joyce Hyser, believes her teachers don't take her very serious because she's a pretty girl. She fails to win a journalism contest and decides to switch schools - and gender. She does make a very handsome guy, and plays her role so well and is accepted as one of the guys. She can be very tough also. Even the guy Rick, played by Clayton Rohner, is fooled by her. It's not until the last reel that he realizes that she loves him.

I had never seen this before until today on The Comedy Channel, and although I did not know any of the stars, it's such an amusing tale of high school graduates, that it held my interest. Good for some laughs!

This is a movie which concentrates more on getting laughs than getting preachy. When it does get preachy, it tells both sides of the story (although some male characters are annoying sterotypes.) It also contains two of the all time classic lines in movie history. While Denise enjoys herself at Terri's prom, she rejoices, "I'm having such a good time, no one here knows I used to be fat." When Buddy is told by an attractive female classmate that he's a nice guy, Buddy retorts, "Not a nice guy, that's the kiss of death."

I got this movie at a rental store in 1985. It had already been out and I guess didn't do well so it went straight to video. We asked the guy at the counter what was a good movie to see. He recommended this one. Good choice. I must have seen it about 25 times now.

It's a cute movie about a girl who thinks she's a hot shot school reporter but she gets shot down during a school contest. Winner of the contest gets to work at a real paper during the summer. So she gets in drag(?) as a boy and goes to another school to resubmit it there. Still doesn't get accepted. So the teacher tells her to think of another story with an interesting angle. This is how she turns her future experences as a boy at that new school into "I was a teenage boy for eight weeks"!

This has old stars and new ones in it. Old being Leigh McCloskey from "Dallas" (as the boyfriend) and Toni Hudson of "Cross Creek" and "Places In the Heart" (as the girlfriend). The new stars are Arye Gross from TV's "Ellen" (as one of the geeks), William Zabka of the "Karate Kid" (as the bully), and Sherilyn Fenn of Twin Peaks (as girl who wants the new kid).

Clayton Ruhner is very good in his second ever role. Joyce Hyser is cute and funny as the girl/boy. Though her character is a bit stuckup, she changes her view in at the end. After all, beauty has fallen for the beast, er.. I mean geek. The rest of the cast is good and together makes this movie fun to watch.

Special mention to Billy Jayne as the horny brother who is so desperate to have sex he will try anything to get it. If you get a chance to see it unedited, do it and I know that you will enjoy this cute look at '80s teenage life. Though I don't remember school being like this.

Just One of the Guys is classic 80s b-teen comedy. Even though it is utterly dated, it is still a great comedy with a good story, good performances, and a good soundtrack.

Joyce Hyser is Terry, an aspiring journalist who wants very desperately to get a summer internship at the local newspaper office. Except, her article on the school cafateria's food selection, wasn't selected for submission. Even though her teacher tries to explain that her writing skills are good, it was just boring content, she is convinced her article being refused has something to do with her gender. She embarks on a misguided attempt to engage in a battle of the sexes in that "anything you can do, I can do better" kind of way.

So, with her parents out of town and a neighboring high school not seeming to require any registration information (or her present high school asking any information regarding her two week absent during her experiment), she easily poses as Terrence, a guy who will write an article and submit it and prove that there is preferential treatment being practiced in the contest.

But, as Terrence, her experiences in the experiment soon become the subject of her article.

First, are the obviously difficulties of a girl posing as a guy at a high school, and the most obvious examples come from the scenes of Terry in gym class. She has to figure out how to change in the lockeroom without other guys finding out. She has to find ways of getting out of gym class and the possibility of playing "shirts" vs "skins" games. And so forth.

Second, she starts falling in love with Rick (Clayton Rohner), a cute quiet guy who she tries to help get a date and fix up his appearance and personality. This leads to problems when girls, convinced that Terry is really a guy, start falling for her. Particularly, the nymphomaniac, Sandy, played by Sherylin Fenn. It also leads to some moments where Terry risks exposing her identity in the few times she wants to lean over and kiss him.

Third, Terry starts to have problems with her jerky boyfriend who just wants to fool around everytime he comes over and only feigning interest in Terry's current social and academic problems.

And fourth, both Terry and Rick face their share of confrontations with a food-tossing bully named Greg (Billy Zabka).

80s teen movie fans are sure to enjoy this movie. Unfortunately, it is not one that seems to have gotten enough recognition this days, at least when compared to movies like Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, the John Hughes movies, and others which have been revived recently. Despite a few shortfalls (Joyce Hyser's whining in the beginning), this movie is just as entertaining as those. Plus, that gorgeous Bobby Jacoby as Terry's oversexed younger brother, Buddy; 80s teen favorite Billy Zabka as Greg; and soft-spoken Clayton Rhoner as Rick, all give great performances. I highly recommend it for teenagers and fans of the 80s teen genre.

I always like the 80s films, because that's the time the teen films were revolutionised. I did not know this film's existence, also not knew 'She's the Man' was its remake. Very enjoyable comedy flick. It was not a flawless film, but they were minimised. This is the story of Terry, a senior high school girl who after failed to get her desired summer job at a local press, she decides to reapply for the internship disguised as a boy with the help of her little brother. The rest follows what she's going to achieve from her new getup.

I really don't know any of these actors, but I liked them all, especially the lead actress. As I have seen many similar films, I don't think it failed to get my attention. So 80s, I mean very impressive like usual with slow and steady narration. You should not compare it to the present teen films. It was not just a different era film, but smartly highlighted the trend among the high school kids of the 80s. Particularly like the relationship and sexually perspectives, though not that strong contents.

I don't think everybody would like it, especially the todays youngsters, but surely the 80s and the 90s guys would enjoy it. I was not even born when it came out, though I feel my generation was very close to it than the present. If you have not seen many films like this theme, you should try it, but watch out for the slow story progression. That's the only thing that might disappoint the viewers, but if you are okay with that, then it is a better film than you would have anticipated.

7/10