10 Things I Hate About You

This film is much older than I thought it was (it came out in 1999). Notable is how young Heath Ledger - he was twenty at the time - and Joseph Gordon-Levitt look (star of the brilliant Brick). It's ostensibly based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and is probably part of the spate of teen comedies derived from classic works (like She's All That and Get Over It) that I think was started by Clueless. On the surface you have to say that it's fairly awful. Gordon-Levitt falls in love with one sister, who isn't allowed to date until her older sister does. Now here's the twist: her older sister hates everyone. Enter Heath Ledger, who is willing to be paid to date the older sister, so that the younger is freed up. There's a few more twists and turns, but you get the idea and can probably guess what's going to happen. Nonetheless, this is a bit more refreshing and original than most teen comedies, but perhaps this is like being the best car in the scrapheap. Their teacher and the sisters' father are both enjoyable characters, but aside from them no one but Ledger is very interesting. The typical high school jock/jerk is just so obvious it's almost painful to watch (compare Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Overall I think it sits awkwardly with the original material, and doesn't have the post-modern irony and sharp wit that Clueless had. The school the film was shot in does give it an impressive background and feel, though.