Siobhan McCarthy’s coming-of-age film makes a crucial revision to a tired, sexist, and transphobic comedy trope. Too many times has there been a gender-based comedy where men pretend to be women for some personal gain. The fake boobs and high voices are employed for a deception that is sometimes amusing (Some Like it Hot), but most times failing to put any thought beyond juvenile jabs (Sorority Boys). She’s the He retools that story to ask the question, “What if that deceptive crossdresser turned out to really be transgender?” It’s compelling enough to spawn another question: “Why didn’t anybody make this movie before?”

The film follows high school losers Ethan (Misha Osherovich) and Alex (Nico Carney) who want to make themselves known as graduation looms. Specifically, they want to dispel rumors that their friendship and social status are viewed as gay. After their attempts to woo girls fail, they take note of how inclusive their high school is of gay and trans teens. This inspires Alex to plan for the two to declare themselves girls in an effort to get closer to them. You can see how easily this framing could be led astray, where this premise could easily be warped into a conservative-promoted satire on the flimsy nature of recognizing transgender teens. The good news is the film doesn’t fall back on either the weak gags from this scenario or the grotesque messaging placed on keeping gender a rigid binary.

There’s a fearlessness when approaching this material that doesn’t reduce it to a cartoonish level, despite being a comedy with bite and wit. The announcement that Ethan and Alex are trans is met with open arms by Sasha (Malia Pyles), an assertive girl who is willing to help with makeup but also be blunt about the hardships women face. This development is also met with an embarrassing attempt at aggressive allyship by their teacher, who is too eager to announce pronoun changes and celebrate gender discovery. Everything seems like it’s right on track to be a thoughtless dose of cross-dressing comedy built to trip over its own ill-fitting attire into holes of sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. But there’s, thankfully, plenty of heart to go along with the hilarity in a film that wants to have its gross cake and eat it too.

The honesty between Ethan and Alex is genuine from the start. They both worry about their social status to the point that even they realize their problems are not so simple that banging the hottest girl in school will solve them. Amid trying on dresses and makeup, Ethan begins to see a part of herself she starts to like. The comfort takes hold to such a degree that she can’t keep playing the game, confessing to Alex that she is, well, a she. But as the earnest Sasha warned them, this is not an easy road. While Ethan might be accepted by the other girls, she won’t find that same acceptance from her mother, who is thankfully portrayed less like a transphobic villain and more like an uncertain mom, fearful of the world her child is entering. While she eventually accepts her daughter, there is understandable concern, as a single mother who knows how hard it will be for a kid like Ethan, who doesn’t exactly have the best social standing, to make such a change.

While Alex might not commit to the trans deception, going so far as to break the contract with sex within his grasp, he does recognize the humility of his behavior. His confession deeply damages his friendship with Ethan, and there’s a deep shame he harbors for what he has done. But there’s no time to sulk as his actions have created a hideous byproduct, as sexist jocks intend to use the same tactic to infiltrate the locker room. He needs to rally the queer forces of the high school to bite back against the abuse of gender for insidious means. All of it leads up to one of the most absurd and raunchy climaxes, where the ultimate weapon is bloodied tampons. And there are a lot of them, refusing to skimp on the gross-out comedy in a manner that is as refreshing as retooling the tired gender-flip formula.

It’d be easy to praise the picture on those merits alone, but the comedy is surprisingly clever for how it tackles the stereotypes of high school, playing them up when amusing and revising them where needed. I love how the lax gym teacher poses the rule in dodgeball that gays are off limits from bombardment, unless they’re sports gay. The way Alex geeks out over the girl group’s non-binary stage tech is charming and paints a lovely picture of how you don’t need to choose a side in the bathroom to find a genuine connection. The iconography of doodling profanity and nudity is also a nice touch for illustrating the lingering thoughts of high school, riding that wonderful line between a heartfelt tale of coming out trans and the cartoonish fun that can be had in a high school setting.

She’s the He succeeeds in being the transgender revisionism that gender-swapped comedies have been lacking for the longest time. Beyond its strong messaging, it’s also just a fun film that is unafraid to tread in territory that is blunt and vulgar. That potent mixture of being honest about the reality of being trans and the amusement in waging a war on the jocks makes for a film that feels like it was plucked from the 1980s, but stripped of all its dated qualities. I know it’s become a common criticism that if you tried to adapt teen comedies from that era to the modern day, they would be drained of all their humor. This film is proof that you can still have all the raunchy antics, quirky characters, and slapstick silliness without being a dated mess of poorly-aged comedy. Here’s hoping more laugh-out-loud comedies like this are coming down the pike because today’s teens could use movies as amusing and admirable as this one.