Motocrossed, a Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered in 2001, is an even more canonically trans film than She’s the Man. I will die on that hill, as if I just crashed off it in a motocross race.

Both movies are based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, but the DCOM does a better job telling the story of a girl who dresses as a boy to do a supposed man’s job. I’d never seen Motocrossed before this week, and I was genuinely blown away by its queerness. Compared to She’s the Man, the love interest is better, the sport is more essential to the plot, and the parental relationships are more complex and interesting.

I loved it. You guys remember when I’d heard Cadet Kelly was lesbian and then I watched it for the first time and I felt you’d all been underselling it actually? Baby, this is the same. I’m once again sad that everything about gender has become so politicized. A feminist movie like this might now face an even worse backlash than it would have two decades ago. I hate it here.

In Motocrossed, Andrea (Alana Austin) and Andrew (Trever O’Brien) Carson are 19-year-old twin siblings who both love motocross, which is off-road motorcycle racing (I had to Google it).

Their father Edward (Timothy Carhart) is domineering, stern, and obsessed with Andrew winning this upcoming race to bring glory (and corporate sponsorship) to their family company Carson Racing. He’s a total drillmaster sports stage dad, so rigid and judgmental. He likes his son as company property more than he likes him as a human being.

While their parents are out for the day, Andrew and Andrea race, and Andrew injures his leg. It crushes his plans to compete. Their dad is so pissed at them. Even unintentionally, he’s doing an incredible job mirroring the unsupportive parent of a queer kid. His instability and lashing out at every little mistake anyone in the family makes was genuinely stressing me out.

Andrea reasonably suggests she race in Andrew’s place. She desperately wants to help provide for the family and ease her guilt over her brother’s injury. Plus, she is just as good of a racer as Andrew. It’s in her blood. Her dad concedes she’s good, but a girl just can not race professionally. Especially against boys. He’s a dickhead about it. The next day, Edward flies to Europe to try to hire a new rider to compete.

Once he’s gone, Andrea pitches to Andrew that she pose as him to compete anyway. I loved that Andrew got on board with this with little cajoling. He supports her and tries to help with her secret plan. It’s only their sexist father who thinks Andrea can’t win the contest. Her siblings disagree.

She cuts her long blonde hair short, puts on a baggy yellow men’s ‘00 skater sweatshirt, a backwards cap, and wrap-around sunglasses. Andrea looks incredible like this. The haircut accentuates her blue eyes and adorable nose. She can really work the masc look. Her mannerisms are still fey, and her attempts to lower her voice remind me of mine right now. Hit or miss. To my trans-trained eye, she actually passes as her brother really well to anyone who hasn’t seen him up close. She also just looks male. Really young, but male. (Hello, trans!) It’s a big difference in authenticity from the laughable drag in She’s The Man.

With her new vibe ready, Andrea attends a race. Her confidence is dashed after the other riders don’t take her seriously. She’s being so awkward. She also forgets to take off her green nail polish, and the other riders judge it. (I am so gay I didn’t even think a young guy wearing colorful polish was that weird.) Her younger brother, expert mechanic Jason (Scott Terra), then spills the beans to their suspicious mom (Mary-Margaret Humes). He folds faster than the kickstand going up at the beginning of a race. (Does that make sense? Motor-heads, let me know.)

The next morning, Mom agrees to help Andrea  behind her father’s back. I absolutely loved the mom character. Her name is Geneva, and she’s a short spitfire. I was so, so pleasantly surprised by the mom’s generosity and immediate support. She really listens to her kids and wants what’s best for them — not just in her own opinion but in theirs. The joy between mother and daughter on this gender-bending journey is so beautiful. It’s a classic story of a closeted kid sharing their secret with a parent who protects them from the other parent.

Andrea and Geneva register for the race under the name “Andy” so as to remain vague and not lie. Andrea loses big time. As they’re packing up to leave, another rider named Dean (Riley Smith) notices enviously that Andrea is turning the girls’ heads. The ladies are all a-twitter about him. Meanwhile, Dean’s crush couldn’t care less whether he lives or dies. He offers to teach Andy riding if he’ll teach Dean about getting the girl.

I am a sucker for the trope of cis girls going gaga for the woman in drag’s boyish heartthrob looks and empathetic soul. Even if they don’t really know why, they seem to want a man built for the female gaze (Andrea) and not a man built for the male gaze (Dean). Throughout the film, Andrea never seems particularly upset about passing as a boy. There’s no hesitation to cut her hair and no distress over growing it back. There’s no sad scene of her binding her chest. She is very practical about everything and remains confident. She’s not homophobically worried about girls being all about her and only cares whether Dean is going to be happy with his new girlfriend. (Her mom says that is how she knows Andrea is in true love. She selflessly puts Dean first.)

I do think there was a studio note at some point about Andrea not doing anything to remind us she’s a girl for too long into the movie and so, as a plot device and also as a way to feminize her, they have her giggle at receiving ‘Nsync tickets. She later gifts them to Dean so he can take a girl he likes.

The two spend a lot of time together becoming best friends. (It doesn’t seem like Dean has many.) One day, Dean shows Andrea an off-road, secret spot. He takes his shirt off to dive into the watering hole there. He tells Andrea to take off her shirt too and get in. She avoids the issue of having boobs by running full force into the water and tackling Dean. This is the only scene that really highlights how being a boy means Andrea can’t behave how she wants toward Dean. She doesn’t seem tortured by her presentation. They play-fight, and it’s so painfully cute I really started rooting for these crazy kids.

But Dean gets with his crush thanks to Andrea, and Andrea moves up the rankings because of Dean. She finishes in first place, only to find her father has returned. He goes ballistic. It’s actually really triggering to watch as a queer and trans person. He’s furious at Geneva. He’s furious at Andrea. He bans the women from continuing. Edward moves ahead on his plan to hire an obnoxious French rider named Rene to represent Carson Racing. When Andrew tells Edward that Rene hit on Andrea and is bullying everyone, their dad blows him off. At this point, throw out the whole dad.

Meanwhile, Dean asks Andrew if his sister Andrea is single. This is hilarious because she doesn’t look that different now that she’s back to being a girl. It’s the same face, just with lipstick on it. Men are so simple. It’s like the drag queen Katya once said: If you put a wig on a fire hydrant, there’d be a line down the street. I actually love this in a trans way because, unlike in She’s The Man where Viola’s transformation back to a woman involves letting her long hair down, Andrea looks pretty much just like she did as “Andy.” Dean is still into it.

Edward doesn’t change his tune about Rene sucking until the whole family desperately gangs up on him. Even then, he doesn’t act until he directly sees Rene push Andrea. I hate this. Edward doesn’t protect his kid until he actually sees with his own eyes that the abuse is happening. He prioritizes a random man over his daughter. He doesn’t just take her word for it. It’s horrible.

Her dad finally privately tells Andrea that as a former rider himself, he just never wanted his baby girl to get hurt. He was trying to keep her safe. (Okay, fuck Andrew then I guess?) He was wrong and he’s proud of her. She should race in the next heat.

She does and she beats Rene. A piss poor loser, Rene exposes Andy as “Andrea” in front of everyone. Dean is appalled, but not in the same kind of scary way the love interest is in She’s The Man. He’s hurt, not disgusted. He’s not concerned about being attracted to “a man” and, unlike in the other movie, no one shames him for his closeness to Andrea. It’s just that he thought Andy was his trustworthy guy friend. He feels embarrassed he shared intimate stuff about girls.

Thankfully, unlike in She’s The Man, Andrea doesn’t have to show any genitals to prove she’s not a boy. Rene tries to get her disqualified. Geneva responds with AirBud technicality reasoning: There’s nothing in the rules that says a girl can’t compete, and Andrea didn’t sign up under a false identity, because Andy is a nickname.

The female corporate CEO admires Andrea’s chutzpah. She allows her to keep her title and grants Carson Racing a sponsorship. Dean has stormed off. I can’t blame him. It is mortifying to have asked the girl in drag as a boy if he can set you up with his sister who is that girl. He’s only a year older than Andrea and already felt romantically deficient. That shit is a nightmare. I get why he would feel stupid.

In an ending I don’t really love, Geneva tells Andrea that the company can now afford to hire another rider. She tells her that he’s outside. Of course it’s Dean. (Too cheesy.) I do love that Geneva is now heading up Carson Racing with Edward and is able to make decisions. She knows racing, too. She deserves her spot. (And maybe she should divorce her husband, just saying.)

I was expecting the movie to end in a very typical boy-girl-start-dating way, heterosexuality and cis-normativity wrapped in a bow. I thought Andrea would become girly again and soften her personality and masculine interests to date Dean.

After all, in She’s The Man, our heroine shows up in a dress and heels as a literal debutante on her boyfriend’s arm. She promises him that she will stay a girl from now on.

But that’s not what happens in Motocrossed at all! Andrea is working on her bike in a Fox Racing long-sleeve shirt. She’s wearing just a touch of lipgloss. Her short hair is flipped up like she’s Lance Bass. She and Dean don’t discuss their attraction to each other or really apologize. Like two bros, they decide to race to see if Dean can join the Carson team. Twelve laps.

The movie ends with Dean and Andrea on their motorcycles, flying into the air while racing against and alongside each other. Dean likes Andrea’s authentic self. He likes that she competes with the boys. He likes that they share a traditionally masculine interest. They’re just a couple of sporty bois. They’re about to be teammates. Even more importantly, they’re equals.

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