The Joker and Robin in the same High School? Really?

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2019)

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU is a smart, sweet, caring and funny film. This film's characters aren't your normal mid 90's dumb teens, they talk eloquently, they actually think and not utter useless lines (except for one or three dumb teen lines). The script, written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith is funny and throws in some Shakespearean type dialogue in there because this film, after all, is based on "The Taming of the Shrew" written by William Shakespeare.
The movie is about this new kid Cameron (the incredibly talented Joseph Gordon Levitt in a very early role) wanting to date the beautiful, popular girl in school Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) but in order to do that she has to find someone to date the "wild beast" of her older sister played by the hormonal and teen angst ridden Kat (Julia Stiles). Kat has her own set of rules that she abides by and believes that she doesn't need to be someone that other people want her to be. That's true and all but to a certain point. Cameron's adventure in finding the right guy to even breathe near Kat comes to a screeching halt when he sees the dark and mysterious Patrick Verona (the late and great Heath Ledger, not his movie debut but came into the spotlight after starring in this film). All sorts of funny and interesting scenes abound after meeting Patrick that I will not spoil.
Cameron is being aided by a nerdy, audio guy named Michael played by the funny David Krumholtz who I first saw in The Addams Family Values (1993), another hilarious film. He may be nerdy but he's a good ad helpful right hand man to Cameron. The film is a genuine mid 90's funny and romantic film with very likable characters and somewhat witty, charming dialogue. When I first saw it 10 years ago, I immediately was hooked and never realized that this movie would give way to two very talented actors who would go on to have interesting film roles that showcased their talents in Levitt and Ledger. I forgot to mention that Kat and Bianca's dad is played by character actor Larry Miller, and he's hilarious in this film as well.