By Far, the Best of the Recent Rash of "Teensploitation" Flicks. Warning: Contains Spoilers!

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2000)

"10 Things I Hate About You" is a teensploitation movie. Don't get me wrong, because that's not a bad thing. At least, it doesn't *have* to be a bad thing. But the reason that most people over the age of 21 groan when they hear about yet *another* movie about teenagers, is because the teensploitation fad has given us the recent "Scary Movie," and less-recent releases like "American Pie," "She's All That," "Varsity Blues," "Can't Hardly Wait," and the abysmal "Drive Me Crazy." Now, there's nothing wrong with putting a bunch of attractive twenty-somethings in a plot about the trials and tribulations of high school. But (and this is my only complaint about "10 Things") could they at least aim for a little more realism? Whose high school looks like a castle? Who has gone to their senior prom to find all the attendees dancing in unison? Who's ever had an inappropriate sexual encounter with an apple pie, and who has ever had a hot exchange student masturbate on their bed, live on the internet?
Other than the few instances where the viewer is forced to suspend disbelief (come on, we all know that Joey Donner is a closet nancy-boy), "10 Things" is a pretty good movie. If it weren't for modernized versions of the Bard, many of us wouldn't be able to stomach the mandatory studying of "Romeo and Juliet," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Macbeth," and of course "The Taming of the Shrew." By putting the plot and characters in a setting that most people understand-high school-the filmmakers have proven that Shakespeare's work is truly timeless, and definitely worth studying. (I don't mean to insult Shakespeare fans out there-in fact, I admire you; you're a lot smarter than I am!)
"10 Things" is funny and has its touching moments-like when Patrick (Heath Ledger, "The Patriot's" adorable Aussie) serenades Kat (Julia Stiles) in the stadium. When I saw that scene, I thought, "Who cares if it's believable? That's so sweet!" Several notably good scenes include the party, where the writers say (by way of the students' acceptance of social outcast Kat only after she performs a drunken table-dance, something she would never normally do) that "everyone's popular when you're drunk." During the inevitable prom scene, when Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fights with Joey (Andrew Keegan, in a wonderfully snotty performance) to defend the honor of Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), it shows that likes her for who she is, and not just because she's pretty.
The movie has good character development and some great acting, especially by Ledger, David Krumholtz as Cameron's A/V Club pal, and Allison Janney as a demented guidance counsellor. Don't write it off as just another teen flick-it's a big fish in a small pond, and it's not only watchable, it's enjoyable.
I give it 8 out of 10 stars.