One of the Definitive 1990s Movies

Rating: 7/10 (16 September 2013)

A new kid (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) must find a guy to date the meanest girl in school (Julia Stiles), the older sister of the girl he has a crush on (Alex Mack), who cannot date until her older sister does.
There is not much reason to write a review for a film that everybody already loves and that really launched the career of Heath Ledger, one of the better actors of his time. I would just like to comment on how the film has aged over the past fourteen years (I am writing this September 2013).
Amazingly, it has done pretty well. The clothes scream 1990s and the bands featured in the film -- Letters to Cleo and Save Ferris -- have long since faded into obscurity. But the update of Shakespeare is still funny with some great observations on high school life.
Sadly, this was probably Julia Stiles' best role. She seemed like a breakout actress at the time, but we have since learned that her range is not all that great and she is now the weak spot in such otherwise good films as the "Bourne" series and the remake of "The Omen".