Stiles and Ledger Carry a Cute Romantic Comedy

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2005)

"10 Things I Hate About You" is not as cleverly written as "Clueless" in modernizing a classic.
But leads Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger (he of TV's "Roar" on Fox a couple of years ago) have wonderful chemistry that carries the movie (and into the out takes over the credits). They are that good that the movie's worth seeing as sheer romantic fun even when "Taming of the Shrew" is dropped half-way through for a more conventional teen movie.
Finding this amazing high school in Tacoma cost them $1 million extra than shooting in L.A. but was really worth it. It's hard to believe such a school exists.
One knows that this will just be a summer romance - I sort of see this as a prequel to John Sayles' "Baby It's You."
It makes good use of the subtleties of music battles in high school. This was the second movie I saw in a week where a guy woos a girl by pretending to be into grrrl rock ("Mad Love" was the other, on cable). Letters to Cleo are (is?) featured prominently.
(originally written 4/11/1999)