10 Things I Hate About You
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (12)
D: Gil Junger
Buena Vista/Touchstone/Mad Chance (Andrew
Lazar)
US 1999
97 mins
Comedy/Romance
W: Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith [inspired
by "The Taming Of The Shrew" by William Shakespeare]
DP: Mark Irwin
Ed: O. Nicholas Brown
Mus: Richard Gibbs
Heath Ledger (Patrick Verona), Julia
Stiles (Katarina Stratford), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cameron James), Larisa Oleynik (Bianca Stratford), David Krumholtz (Michael Eckman), Andrew Keegan (Joey Donner), Susan May
Pratt (Mandella), Larry Miller (Walter Stratford)
William Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew gets a
teenage update, set at an American high school where a pair of sisters are forbidden from dating by their strict father. There is a condition however, should the older, more responsible
sister get a boyfriend, the party-loving younger of the two may also date, but there aren't many takers, until a mysterious stranger accepts a bet to woo the difficult Katarina and ends
up falling in love with her.
More a reference to the world of Shakespeare rather
than an adaptation for a modern audiences. The comedy style of the opening act starts erratically, flirting with farce before becoming a more traditional romantic comedy, working mostly
because of the charming performances of Heath Ledger and, particularly, Julia Stiles.
I tried to think of 10 things I hated about it. I
struggled to think of one.
7/10
