Greatest of the Teen Genre

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2004)

10 Things.. is honestly a very honest and genuine representation of teenage life. I saw the movie thinking that it would be like "She's All That" which is a great teen movie. I left feeling that it surpassed its predecessors.

The movie follows the story of the Shakespeare classic "The Taming of the Shrew." Now, I personally do not like Shakespeare, due to the overemphasis on his "brilliance" which probably only caught on in his time due to the lack of any originality of his period. But, the story of a tough girl whose sister cannot marry or date until her sister takes a suitor, does provide an interesting opportunity for a contriving plot.
Bianca Stratford, a prissy, uptight princess wants to be Miss Popularity, and in today's society, that means going out and selling your soul to the popular kids. Only, Kat, her "evil" sister is very liberal in her pursuit of a unpopular lifestyle paradox. The rest of the story is contrived on a bet involving an outcast, Patrick Verona, to begin dating Kat in order for Joey Dahmer, the classic dumb jock/model, to "land" Bianca.

The movie has some great moments, including a serenade of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" from Patrick (Heath Ledger) to Kat in order to win over her heart. As well as Bianca beating the crap out of a Joey when she realizes her stupidity in his intentions. The humor is up-to-date and is still quoted amongst teenagers with lines including "There's a difference between like and love. I mean I like the sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack." and "I know you can overwhelmed and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed? I think you can in Europe.." It's stupid comedy on Bianca's part, but smart sarcastic retorts from Kat (Julia Stiles).
Definitely recommend if you haven't already seen. It makes you laugh and what is better than that?