Victory's World: Movie Reviews http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~vmaras1/reviewsidx.html
10 Things I Hate About You (Touchstone Pictures) Rated PG-13 Written by Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith Directed by Gil Junger
Review by Victory A. Marasigan
Young Kat Stratford is Padua's resident evil ice queen. Bianca Stratford is her seemingly more down-to-earth younger sister. Bianca has caught the attention of Cameron, a gawky newcomer who endeavors to court her the first time he sees her. Cameron's quest for Bianca has hit a snag: her father won't allow her to date. With some prodding by his daughter Bianca and her hopeful suitor, the patriarch of the Stratford family slyly agrees to a deal knows he'll never have to honor: Bianca can date when Kat dates. Fearless, Cameron takes on the challenge of making the apparently incorrigible Kat fall in love with someone.
Sound familiar? It should, because 10 Things I Hate About You, a comedy from director Gil Junger, is a thinly-veiled adaptation/homage to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. This version of the story takes place amongst hip teens at Padua High, a fictional public school in Seattle. Given the kitschy premise, it's surprising that 10 Things manages to be a funny, endearing movie on par with Clueless or even Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The "shrew" in this retelling is played with infectious energy by newcomer Julia Stiles. As the angel-in-witch's-clothing Kat, Stiles gets to be both wicked and gentle, slowly revealing the lovelorn softie behind her character's rigid mask in fleeting, satisfying emotive bursts. The guy responsible for Kat's transformation is Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), the long-haired loner who has reluctantly accepted money to date her. Ledger seems a virtual clone of Marky Mark Wahlberg, with a soft-voiced Aussie accent substituted for Bostonian. Oddly enough, Stiles and Ledger have a charming on-screen chemistry, even when she's throwing up on his shoes.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("3rd Rock From the Sun") is pitiful -- in a good way -- as Cameron, the transfer student whose simple plan to date the lovely Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) backfires messily. He's unintimidating, his voice cracks just a little bit, and he looks like he's never dated anyone his entire life (Try to picture Ryan Philippe playing the same part and you get a hint of the wisdom of 10 Things' casting directors).
The thematic elements of The Taming of the Shrew -- the social conditioning of women, family politics, the gender battle of wills -- have been nicely updated for a modern audience. This contrasts starkly with 1996's William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, whose too-strict adherence to the text practicially negated the story's relevance to the film's ultra-modern setting. Junger and writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith have made their characters and story engaging enough that the original Elizabethan-era inspiration seems more of a noteworthy suggestion than a direct influence.
Here is that once-in-a-blue-moon instance of a film whose fresh cast is able to carry the film in spite of a totally predictable plotline. Had a more recognizable, older crop of actors (read: Jennifer Love Hewitt, James Van Der Beek, or anybody on the WB Network) been chosen to fill the lead roles, this film's tried-and-true teen-movie cliches and stock characters would probably be harder to stomach.
The actors not only look like real teens -- they talk and act like them as well. Though there are winking dialogue references to the original source material sprinkled throughout, the script for the most part shuns the "Dawson's Creek"-inspired trend of having young characters talk like post-collegiate philosophers. Let's hope that Hollywood gets the drift that teens need not be portrayed by actors who cop adult attitudes and radiate squeaky-clean winsomeness to be appealing.
GRADE: B+
Reviewed March 24, 1999 at Owings Mills General Cinema, Owings Mills, MD.
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