Tomasina 'Tommy' Boyd (Betsy Russell) is an independent girl. She's a mechanic and had always been a Tomboy. Her best friend Seville Ritz is boy crazy and wants to be a famous dancer. Tommy only has eyes for race car driver Randy Starr. Seville needs an investor for a TV pilot and she talks Tommy into taking her to a party with Randy Starr and his rich friend Ernie Leeds Jr. Randy wins over Tommy but he won't consider her as his equal in the car. She challenges him to a race.

Betsy Russell is not the best of actresses but the rest of this cast makes her award winning by comparison. Kristi Somers does have a fun shower scene early on. There are a few scenes that shows the film knows that this is a cheese fest. Betsy is as sexy as ever even when she's Tomboyed up. This has its fun cheesy moments but it never exceeds its B-movie characteristics.

Tommy Boyd (Betsy Russell) is an unconvincing tomboy who is carefully edited. She is also a grease monkey minus any grease or dirt and always has a nice clean manicure as most auto-mechanics and welders. She was a wild friend Seville (Kristi Somers) who will do anything to endear herself to the motion picture industry. Tommy idolizes local race driver Randy Starr (Gerard Christopher) but wants his respect too which she can gain by racing cars.

On the surface, this is a lousy film. Betsy Russell gets an "F" attempting to play a mechanic. This film is available in at least two different 50 DVD collections of "B" movies and '80's films. What makes this film a hit is the classic 80's nude scenes provided by both Betsy Russell and Kristi Somers. If not for Phobe Cates, this would certainly be some of the best of 80's boy fantasy.

8 stars for the nudity.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity (Betsy Russell, Kristi Somers, Rory Barish, Cynthia Ann Thompson, Michelle Bauer..no surprise...in fact she just drives onto the set, flashes and drives off.)

Boy, Crown International Pictures have done it again. That is, churned out yet another entirely forgettable teen comedy, with sex and gratuitous nude scenes to draw in the crowds. TOMBOY is a pitifully-written '80s high school comedy about the titular character, a tomboy who dreams of winning over the hunk of her dreams. Will she manage it? Does anybody care?

It took me a while to realise that the lead actress, Betsy Russell, is better known for playing Jigsaw's wife in the SAW franchise. She's COMPLETELY unrecognisable here which shows how much work she must have had done. Still, Russell is a pretty poor actress, failing to invest her character with any moments of sympathy, and the rest of the cast are no better. The humour is so lightweight that it's easy to miss it, and the racing scenes and stuff are all predictable and have been done better elsewhere. TOMBOY really is a film to miss.

Trivia fans take note: director Herb Freed is better known for helming the early '80s slasher GRADUATION DAY, which is considerably better than this film!