A Stereotypical Teen Movie; Nothing Fresh Or Original About It

Rating: 2/10 (9 November 2012)

I'm not going to argue with teenagers. This is a stereotypical teen movie filled with every cliché that the genre uses. And of course there are a lot of teen movies filled with those same clichés simply because they work for their target audience. This one clearly works with the target audience. It has a good rating. So be it. But my warning: if you're not a teen, please avoid this.
I didn't find it funny or fresh or original. It's the same basic plot that gets respun over and over: kids (some cool and some not) desperately trying to fit in, and somehow in the midst of it all finding love in the most unexpected places. It didn't do anything for me - but then again, I'm not a teen. In fact, I wasn't really a teen even when I was a teen! So I'm definitely not the target audience. And maybe that's the reason that I spent a good part of this movie wondering about the title. What 10 things? I didn't really make the connection between the title of the movie and the content of the movie. It's like someone just made up a title out of thin air because it sounded cute or funny or something. But what did it have to do with the actual movie?
It's not a bad cast, but you really have to be into this kind of movie to enjoy it. I'm not, and I didn't. It has two or three mildly humorous and/or heartwarming moments. The father/daughter talk near the end of the movie as Mr. Stratford finally lets go of Kat was basically THE heartwarming moment of the movie, and it actually worked quite well, and so left me with a bit of a more generous reaction than I might otherwise have had. Still, though, I can't honestly say that I enjoyed this in any way, shape or form. (2/10)