Funny, clever update of Shakespeare classic

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 1999)

"10 Things I Hate About You" is a funny, clever update of the Shakespeare classic, "The Taming of the Shrew." The premise for the story is much the same -- in the original, Bianca Minola could not marry until her older sister Katharine was wed -- in the new movie, Bianca Stratford cannot date until her older sister Kat does. Petruchio, now renamed "Patrick Verona," is paid by one of Bianca's suitors and thus neatly sidesteps the whole dowry issue. The jokes are funny, and the situation is just ludicrous enough to be entertaining without insulting the audience's intelligence. This is the "Clueless" makeover ("Clueless" was an update of Jane Austen's "Emma"), and it works quite well.
The one performance that never quite rings true is Andrew Keegan's as Joey, presumably the Hortensio role. He seems somehow too uncomfortable with the material to really sell it, and I have a hard time believing that this person was ever that popular. Julia Stiles and Larisa Oleynik, as the Stratford sisters, are both excellent. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, in the Lucentio role (Cameron), is the best of the ensemble as he makes his play for Bianca. He is a fine actor, especially for one so young. It probably doesn't hurt that he's had some of the most experience of the young cast, starring in the hit sitcom "Third Rock From the Sun." David Krumholtz ("The Slums of Beverly Hills"), as Cameron's friend Michael, also turns in a funny, convincing performance.
The one quibble I had with the picture was a mainly regional one: I live in Tacoma, Washington, where most of the picture was filmed; our town's historic Stadium High School was transformed into Padua High for the purposes of the screenplay. However, I was offended by the supposed premise that this picture takes place in Seattle. Shots of the Space Needle and Gasworks Park are clearly visible, side by side with shots of downtown Tacoma and ... Stadium High, one of the city's most famous landmarks. The view from the Stratford house is also plainly Commencement Bay (my own house is less than a mile away), and I question how the filmmakers could decide to be so blatantly ambiguous. Pick a city, folks.
Apart from that, the movie was delightful enough, and a terrific date movie. Prepare yourself to laugh your sphincters off.