Summary
Justin is the goalie for Cornwall, and he heckles the Illyria players. Soon after, Duke scores a goal. After that, Duke refuses to pass to Viola, much to her annoyance, and Cornwall scores a goal. Viola confronts Duke and tells him that she knows he's mad about Olivia, but that she'll explain after the game and they have to work together. Justin comes over and Duke gets in a fight with him. A big fight breaks out, but Dinklage stops it and they continue the game.
Olivia rushes onto the field towards Viola, which only upsets Duke more. "There's nothing going on between me and Olivia!" Viola insists to Duke, which upsets Olivia. Seeing that there is no other option, Viola reveals her true identity. "I've been pretending to be my brother while he was in London for the past two weeks...so I could make the team and beat Cornwall." She takes off her wig and tells Duke that the real Sebastian is who kissed Olivia and played the first half of the game.
"Just because you wear a wig, doesn't prove you're a girl," Duke says, and Viola lifts up her shirt to show her breasts. Olivia asks Viola where Sebastian is, and Sebastian comes over. Viola apologizes and tells Duke that she just wanted to prove that she was a good soccer player. Duke agrees to let Viola play, but the Cornwall coach doesn't approve, holding up a league manual. Dinklage tears up the manual and says, "You're in Illyria, we don't discriminate based on gender!"
The game starts again and Viola takes the field with her teammates. At one point, one of the Cornwall players trips Viola and a foul is called. Her penalty kick decides the game, and she has to shoot on her ex-boyfriend, who heckles her as she prepares to kick. When she kicks, he blocks it for a moment, but it bounces off Duke, and Viola kicks it clear into the goal, winning the game. In the bleachers, Viola's parents almost kiss they are so proud. Justin cries and Viola runs to hug her friends, then her parents and Sebastian. When their parents start fighting, Viola suggests that they all go to dinner the next night. Viola introduces Sebastian to Olivia and the two of them go and talk. Meanwhile, Toby proclaims his love for Eunice, and they kiss passionately.
We see the real Sebastian coming into his dorm room and giving Duke a package. Inside, is a huge wheel of gouda and an invitation to Viola's debutante ball.
At the debutante ball, Paul offers to escort Viola. She accepts, but is a little overwhelmed by it all and goes for a walk. Outside, she stares at a pond, when suddenly a figure approaches. She mistakes it for Duke and tells the figure that she's glad he's there, but it's a groundskeeper who tells her he needs to turn the sprinklers on.
She turns around and sees Duke in a black suit. "A few days ago I kissed this girl at a kissing booth, and now I just can't seem to stop thinking about it," he says. "Neither can she," Viola replies. Duke adds that he misses his roommate, and Viola points to her heart and tells Duke that his roommate is "right in here." She then tells him, "Just so you know, everything that you told me as a guy just made me like you so much more as a girl."
At the debutante ball, Monique is escorted by Justin. Olivia is escorted by Sebastian. The coordinator announces that Viola is going to be escorted by Paul, but after a moment, she walks out with Duke and they kiss. Paul is in the audience with Andrew and everyone cheers for Viola and Duke.
Analysis
The revelation of Viola's true identity is less earth-shattering than expected. Rather than "come out" in a dramatic way, she simply reveals it in the middle of the game in order to convince Duke to trust her and pass her the ball on the field. While she is masquerading as "Sebastian," Duke is convinced that she broke their male code by kissing Olivia, his crush, but she insists that it was not her who did that. She takes off her wig and lets her long hair out as a way of showing that she is not a threat.
When Duke notices that Viola is, in fact, a girl, he agrees to continue playing and they finish the game, working together to beat Cornwall. In a decisive penalty kick, Viola doesn't score the goal on the first try, but with Duke's help, gets it in the net. In this moment, Viola not only proves that she can play soccer as well as any boy; she also enacts revenge on her sexist ex, Justin, who sobs at his team's loss.
While Duke accepts that Viola is a girl and agrees to play with her on the soccer field, it takes him a little longer to accept the fact that she has lied to him. Her lies to her community are complex and socially transgressive lies. She posed as a boy and gained entry into a male sociality that would not have otherwise been available. In the wake of this betrayal, Viola is not sure whether Duke will ever forgive her and accept the fact that she did so in order to play boys' soccer.
In the end, Duke forgives Viola and they gloss over the more complicated gendered dynamics that arose during their getting to know one another. After Viola sends Duke a large wheel of gouda cheese and invites him to her debutante ball, he ends up showing up. He forgives Viola for her betrayal, and she re-frames her lie as a way that she was able to get closer to him, saying, "Just so you know, everything that you told me as a guy just made me like you so much more as a girl." In this moment, the two high schoolers agree that gender is a performance, a mask that one wears that signifies different social modes.
The film is ultimately a feel-good lighthearted romp. While it indirectly makes some deeper claims about the ways that gender is performed and not biologically essential, it is also a romantic comedy, a story of two high schoolers coming together and falling in love. The film ends with Viola being escorted by Duke in the debutante ball and kissing him in front of her community. Not only has she proven that she can play soccer with the boys, but she also proves that she is an adult woman as well.
