10 Things I Hate About You Review
by Jon Popick (mailbot AT sick-boy DOT com)April 4th, 1999
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
Surely you’ve already heard that Hollywood has run out of original ideas. So you shouldn’t be surprised that the sharpest and most successful films recently released are classic novels or plays reworked into modern settings with young stars, preferably from popular television shows. It started with Clueless (Austen’s “Emma”) a few years back. Then there was William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. So far this year we’ve had She’s All That (Shaw’s “Pygmalion”) and Cruel Intentions (de Laclos’ “Dangerous Liaisons”). And don’t forget new version of Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “Hamlet” due later this year, as well as a more traditional rendition of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
10 Things is essentially Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” set in present-day America. It’s about two sisters – one popular (Larisa Oleynik, The Secret World of Alex Mack) and one dubbed “a heinous bitch” by her peers (Julia Stiles, The Devil’s Own). Like the play, they are respectively named Bianca and Kat(e) and they live in a town called Padua. Bianca has many suitors, but isn’t allowed to go out with boys until her older sister is ready to date.
Enter new Padua High student Cameron (Joseph-Gordon Levitt, 3rd Rock >From the Sun) who instantly falls for the pasty Bianca and cooks up a plan to persuade popular jock Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) to pay the school psycho to date Kat. Of course, he’s not really a psycho; he’s just misunderstood because he has long hair, wears dark-colored clothes and works in the metal shop. His name is Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger, Roar), and he quickly realizes that taming this shrew might be a lot more difficult than he had originally thought.
The script is surprisingly witty and filled with razor-sharp barbs hurled from just about every character. And that’s pretty shocking, considering it came from a writing duo (Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith) with no previous screenplay experience. While avoiding an “R” rating, they manage to weave a tapestry of near-obscenities that will make even the most cynically jaded adult chuckle just as loud as the pre-teens that this film’s marketing campaign will target. Particularly funny are Padua’s English teacher (Daryl Mitchell, Veronica’s Closet) and guidance counselor (Allison Janney, Private Parts). (1:38 – PG-13 for some mild adult language and situations)
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