It's a Boy Girl Thing

The body swap comedy gets another outing in this teen romp about a prim schoolgirl, Nell, who magically swaps bodies with her macho classmate and neighbour Woody. As usual, logic is brushed over in favour of culture-clash/gender-based comedy and lesson-learning. The message is simple: don’t judge a book by its cover. And so Nell must learn that not all footballers are thick, while Woody must appreciate the benefits of schooling – and the hidden charms of a girl he overlooked. This last point will be problematic for analytical types: falling in love with someone while they’re in your own body is a trifle narcissistic. But ‘It’s a Boy Girl Thing’ is not to be reasoned with. Competent leads Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers deliver bursts of amusing risqué humour, and the film swings between reasonably sharp, amusing banter and crass, juvenile gags. Some of the dialogue’s very stilted; never more so than in Sharon Osbourne’s scenes – yes, really: the rock wife-turned-TV presenter pops up as Woody’s inexplicably cockney-fishwife mother. And if you’ve seen her in the ASDA adverts, you’ll know how painful that is.