Star Rating:

It's A Boy Girl Thing

Director: Nick Hurran

Actors: Kevin Zegers, Brooke D'Orsay, Samaire Armstrong

Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001

Genre(s): Factual

Running time: 90 minutes

Neighbours Nell (Armstrong) and Woody (Zegers) have loathed each other since they were kids; she's a feisty bookworm hoping to get into Yale, he's the school's top quarterback on the verge of a scholarship. At a school outing to a museum, they have an argument in front of an ancient statue, which clouds them in a mysterious mist. Waking up the next day, Nell and Woody find that they have switched bodies and mayhem ensues. OK, not the most original set-up in the world - Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son et al have done this to death - but It's A Boy Girl Thing has enough charm and humour to garner a 'pass'. It's sweet and inoffensive with just enough sexiness to consider it risque for the tween market it unashamedly pitches at. Humour can be found in the confusion as sometimes you have to remind yourself who's in whose body: When Woody (Nell) gets an erection after brushing up against Nell (Woody), she explains that it's only because he finds her attractive, to which Woody replies, "No, it's because you find me attractive." Confused? So was I. However, there were different paths director Nick Curran could have gone down which would have made his film better than it actually is. Early on, before the two come to terms with what has happened, there was a wealth of gags at his disposal (Nell's conundrum with erections, Woody suffering from PMS) but they never come to fruition. Armstrong and Zegers have real on-screen chemistry and everyone involved has their tongues firmly in cheek and know how silly the film is. Zegers fares better than his co-star and is funnier at being a girl than Armstrong is at being a boy.