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| Directed by Gil Junger; Starring Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, Andrew Keegan, Susan May Pratt, Gabrielle Union, Larry Miller, Daryl Mitchell, and Allison Janney |
As if we didn’t need another teen comedy that has a couple finally finding what they want at a school prom. I’ve now seen it the Rage: Carrie II (not really the prom but close enough), She’s All That, Doug’s 1st Movie (not really teen), Never Been Kissed, Cruel Intentions, Jawbreaker, and now 10 Things I Hate About You. In a modernization of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, director Junger attempts to do for school cliques what Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions) attempted to do for school sex.
The film follows the original play very liberally, even though the Shakespeare influence is seen quite a bit in it (a character obsesses with the Bard, the English class is writing Shakespearean sonnets, characters named Verona and Stratford, etc.). It is mainly about the growing relationship between Kat (Stiles; the shrew) and her paid suitor (Ledger). He has been paid to take her out so that the school model (Keegan) and the new guy (Gordon-Levitt) can take out her beautiful and popular sister (Oleynik). Oleynik cannot date unless Kat does because their father (Miller) is fearful of pregnancy from working as an obstetrician. Even if you have not read the play before you can easily guess what will happen for the duration of the film.
If I had not read the play before (or seen the Zeffirelli film version, for that matter) I might have enjoyed this film quite a bit more. It seemed highly predictable and as unappealing to think about in hindsight as The Swarm for Warner Bros. execs. Despite all this, I can’t help but say that in the theatre, 10 Things was not as bad as it surely could have been. I think the secret to its near success is the likability of its stars. I could have done without the comic misgivings of Allison Janney as the principal of the school the film is set in and the tirelessly bad acting of Keegan, but the rest of the cast seemed well in their places and quite dynamic in their performances. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has always seemed to be an underused actor in my opinion since his really good work on the 1993 TV-movie Gregory K. Stiles and Ledger are both very likable in the lead roles especially in a nice sequence involving the intercom microphone and the school band. Oleynik is ravishing and makes the film hard to follow at times because of being enthralled with her. Krumholtz even makes up for the decidedly dismal Slums of Beverly Hills.
All in all, I could see how someone could like 10 Things I Hate About You even if it was not my cup of tea.
