10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Summary
Genre: Comedy, RomanceGoodies:
+ Fun and campy teen comedyBaddies:
- Relatively averageUpdated version of William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” set at the fictional Padua High School in Tacoma where a new transfer student, Cameron, is interested in the popular sophomore Bianca Stratford. But Bianca’s overprotective and domineering father forbids Bianca to date unless her older sister Katerina, an unpopular and hostile senior, does. In a bid to get Katerina a boyfriend, Cameron sets up a plan to have the school stud, Joey Donnar, bribe Patrick Verona, an outcast senior with a rumor-filled past, to take the volatile Katerina out on dates so he can go to the school’s homecoming dance with Bianca. However, neither Pat or Kat expect their ‘going steady’ to lead where nobody expects it too.
I know everyone is probably thinkings – “he hadn’t seen this yet”, and in my defense, I have traditionally abhorred seeing Julia Stiles in any role, but after her fantastic performance in “Dexter” this past season, I figured it couldn’t be all bad. After seeing this, I realize maybe it’s just Save the Last Dance that I really hated. The thing about this film is not that it is particularly amazing or flawless in any degree of itself, but that it’s a film that represented the teen films of the 80’s in almost unparalleled regard. One could argue that many teen 90’s films were not so unlike those of the 80’s, but where this came out in 1999, that genre was almost dead. There were a few parts that really annoyed me though. Kat is supposed to be a strong individual with unwavering ideals of herself, yet the minute she starts falling for Patrick, she starts flashing detention teachers? I think if this scene was not in the film, I would have given an entire .5 more – it just does not fit in the context of her character. Plus, that whole scene was ridiculous – detention is usually, what, a half hour? It may have been the end of the world had she not waited. Anyways, other than that, the film had good pacing, good acting (it was funny to see some of these actors as younger people — although Julia Stiles doesn’t look like she’s aged), and like I said before – nothing was specifically phenomenal, but it was a very solid nod to the 80’s, which I always appreciate. I wonder what a film in 2011 trying to nod to the 80’s would look like (and if you even try to mention Hot Tub Time Machine, we will no longer be friends). Oh, also, the guidance counselor was byfar the best sections of the film, I wish she played a bigger role.
