I "Hate" this tripe

Rating: Null/10 (3 April 1999)

"10 Things I Hate About You"
"Disturbing Behavior" director David Nutter complained loudly that his film was taken away from him and cut to shreds. MGM executives said that to appeal to the teen market the film had to be short and no shot should last more than 4 seconds. "10 Things" seems to come from this school of thinking. It's a miscalculated film that feels like it was trimmed quite a bit. Certain scenes are very slapdash, and the whole film seems to edited to make the littlest possible effect on the viewer. I was also not duped into finding it clever just because it's source material is Shakespeare. That's an idea that needs to go away for about 20 years. The reason it worked in "Clueless" is because Amy Heckerling in a vastly talented director, not because of the gimmick.
Leads Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger seem to be appropriately talented actors. They have a nice chemistry in this movie, and the best scenes are of when the two just stay still and talk. The rest of the actors are just a bore. Larry Miller plays his millionth role as himself, and it's still not funny. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is introduced as one of the main characters of the film, but without explanation is pushed aside, becoming a supporting player by movie's end. David Krumholtz showed a comedic spark in last year's "Slums Of Beverly Hills", but saddled in this with lame sight gags, he cannot make an effect. The rest of the cast is predictably a Hollywood version of High School students.
Director Gil Junger comes from a extensive TV background. You don't really need to have that information to see that "10 Things" is really just a glorified episode of "Saved By The Bell". Packed to the brim with a shockingly schizophrenic soundtrack that blasts a new tune every 30 seconds, this is another case of shameless self-promotion. I detested a lot of this movie. And I wished that it could have been more. But what I question the most is why this film is praised by some critics. I'm not opposed to having fun at the movies, but when it panders to the lowest common denominator, then I ask "wassup wit dat?"------------ 1