Well scripted film with sparky comedy and relaxation

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2009)

Cameron (Gordon-Levitt) desperately wants to ask out Bianca (Oleynik) but she can only date when her moody and opinionated sister Kat (Stiles) is dating.
In this modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's Taming of the shrew, Gil Junger brings a subtle charm and sly comic romantic edge to the students' lives that should enable viewers of any age to sit back, chill and watch the comedy unwind.
This film is one of the few early films that would set the benchmark for future Hollywood stars Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Both deliver the necessary components of teenage morale fibre to give the film a feisty chemistry without diving too much into the conventional side of the romance genre. Inevitably there is a formula that follows the usual guidelines but above all other modern day romantic comedies this is a high contender as it is dark and significantly likable.
The beginning shows us Cameron, the new student who gets shown the ropes by the humorous David Krumholtz and when we look at today's modern stereotypes, its quite interesting to see the way they were ten years ago. David's Michael shows us the list of the groups the teenagers form, from the geeks to the models and so forth. It's no Mean Girls as the stereotyping is settled relatively quickly as the plot moves up a gear.
The film really gets going when we see Cameron's lust towards Bianca and therein lays the complications. The bizarre implication of the sisters' dad deciding the rule if one dates then the other can date is initially strange but this opens up a can of rivalry with a thirst for emotional battles that are spicy with a strong dexterity of drama and equal comic value that says a lot for the plot's themes.
This is a film very much about rivalry and bitterness between people. From Patrick's (Ledger) feud with Joey (Andrew Keegan) and the sister's constant war of words this film justifies the genre and is plentiful to deal the drama when necessary.
There are obviously numerous teenage romantic comedies out there so you may wonder what this one has to offer say over American Pie or Cruel Intentions? Well unlike American Pie this has humour in the normal sense, one liners and funny spurts of craziness, from the motorbike on the hill to the drawing on the face. There is no crude violation of human nature here it is all down to earth. Like cruel intentions, this has a cool soundtrack with modern collection of pop songs adding spice with a more electric and vibrant motive. Not to mention Heath Ledger's "I love you baby" singing scene is one of the coolest romantic sequences to grace the screens for teens.
This film is also very well equipped with character establishment. Ledger's mysterious presence in the early stages is well equipped with bizarre rumours but he learns the value of honesty as he goes on whilst Kat learns that everyone isn't fighting against her. Stiles is well controlled to portray the intelligent opinionated mind of her protagonist.