Fille ou garçon

Rating: ** 1/2 out of ****

I happened to come across Just one of the Guys on TV the other day, and with absolutely nothing else to do that day, I decided, what the heck, why not just give this 80's teen sex farce a shot. At any rate, it was bound to be better than Porky's and I might even get a few cheap laughs in the process. To my surprise, Just One of the Guys turned out to be one of the better teen comedies I've seen in a while, thanks in no small part to Joyce Hyser.

The premise is gimmicky. Basically, hottie teen Terry (Joyce Hyser) decides to dress up like a guy in order to prove she could get her previously rejected article published if she were a man. Well, she ends up befriending a loner named Rick (the underrated Clayton Rohner, who was so funny in April Fool's Day), but does so while in drag. She thinks it's up to her to help him out by getting him a date for the prom, but whatta you know, she starts to fall for him and the rest can't be hard to guess from there.

Okay, I realize I just made this movie sound pretty bad, but if you actually give it a shot, you might find it rather enjoyable. Surprisingly enough, there's not that much nudity to speak of (mostly male, though, thankfully, Hyser does give us a quick shot of her breasts) and the humor isn't half as smutty as I'd expected. Rather, the humor we're given is Terry's balancing act between her "old" self and this new identity she's created. Not all of the jokes work, but there are plenty of inspired moments that keep the momentum going. Take, for instance, the girl (Sherilyn Fenn) who has a crush on Terry; what could have been a set-up for a cruel and tasteless gross-out is given a little weight, and the way this subplot is resolved is satisfying and actually even a little sweet.

The film prefers to use its premise not for gross-out gags, but to build a cute love story, and yeah, it does a pretty good job at that. Hyser and Rohner have appealing chemistry, though it's Hyser who gets the lion's share of the work. Having to balance between playing a very pretty girl and a convincing male teen isn't easy, but she pulls it off with flying colors.

Obviously, the film is going to end with Rick discovering Terry's real identity. That scene is handled rather well, but I found the epilogue a little too abrupt to be entirely satisfying. I found myself caring a lot about these characters; would have been nice to know where they ended up from there.

But enough with the quibbles. Sure, Just One of the Guys isn't a great movie, not by a long shot, but it takes the time to make us care about the characters and their dilemmas, and while the lack of potty humor might not make it as gut-bustingly hilarious (if potty humor is your preference, that is) as some of today's offerings, the fact that the movie touched me made it superior to just about any other teen comedy I've seen in a long time.

Great comedy 1980s High School movie. (OK, it won't win an Oscar - often a good thing.)It is funniest for guys, I think. Billy Jacoby steals the movie as a hyper-horny adolescent schoolboy. He has too many hilarious scenes and good lines to go into. Don't miss it if you like 1980s (any era?) high school comedies from a guy's perspective. The star, Joyce Hyser is also a bonus treat.

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 have seen this movie more times than I've seen my own elbows.

Gifted thespian Joyce Hyser plays "Terri" (note cool yuppie spelling). Terri is a hot babe, the height of teen fashion, and an aspiring journalist. She's got her meticulously-lined eyes set on an internship with the city newspaper. To try and earn it, she submits an essay on the nutrient content of high-school lunches. Her english teacher is not impressed. He thinks her writing sucks wet pantyhose. Apparently the sodium-level of tater-tots is a topic that fails to move him. What a stick!

Rather than face the reality that her writing bites old dusty cardboard, Terri convinces herself that the essay has been pooped on simply because she does not have a penis. How could anyone *not* be excited by tater-tots? It HAS to be sexism! Having arrived at this highly logical conclusion, Terri does what any rational and self-reliant teen would do in this predicament:

Dress up as a boy, enroll in the rival school, and enter the essay as a guy. But of course, silly!

As a dude, she is sure to be taken seriously. As seriously as one can be taken while wearing black skinny ties and 10 rolls of duct-tape.

Terri lops off her heavy-metal-mama hair, rummages through her brother's closet, and a few crotch-grabbing lessons later...viola! A boy!

I'm not even gonna' front --this movie gives me the warm fuzzies. Joyce Hyser make most funny faces. Me laugh lots. She should have been a huge star, or at the very least been given her own bad FOX sitcom. I love this movie and I don't care how uncool that makes me. I'm going to go watch it for the 367th time...I can never get enough of girls in drag and guys with painted-on Wranglers.

I really enjoyed this when I saw it and would highly recomend. Very good,sweet welldone comedy that could have been cheezy but isn't. It's not heavy at all, just a sweet teen comedy that's better then alot of them because it's actually funny and very sweet at the same time. Most of the reviews here seem to be positive as well.