in december of 1996 , a little movie called " scream , " was released , became a box - office smash , and resurrected films targeted at teens .
first , it was teen slasher movies that were the big fad ( both " scream " movies , " i know what you did last summer , " " urban legend , " etc . ) , but just recently , the popularity has switched over to the teen comedy genre ( a ' la ' 80s john hughes ) , starting with last june 's " ca n't hardly wait .
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it may be the first week of april in 1999 , but so far this year we have been given a movie aimed at the 25-and - under market almost every single week : " varsity blues , " " jawbreaker , " " cruel intentions , " " simply irresistible , " " the rage : carrie 2 , " and " the mod squad .
" coming april 9 are two more of this type : " never been kissed " and " go , " and on april 23 , we 've got the teen satire " election " and the teen horror - comedy " idle hands .
" jeesh ! out of all of these moves , however , the one that is most similar to the latest incarnation , " 10 things i hate about you , " is this past january 's mediocre , ho - hum
" she 's all that .
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although similar in plotting ( ok , darn near identical ) , " 10 things i hate about you , " a modern - day version of shakespeare 's " the taming of the shrew " ( " she 's all that " got its inspiration from " pygmalion " ) , is an infinitely superior film in every department , from the smart direction by first - time feature director gil junger to the charming and well - written screenplay by karen mccullah lutz and kirsten smith to the striking ensemble cast , who give the best group of performances in a teen comedy since 1985 's " the breakfast club .
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and to top it all off , in the inevitable climax set at the prom , at least we did n't have to once again suffer through a goofy , inappropriate dance sequence ( who could forget , or want to remember , for that matter , this ludicrous development in " she 's all that ? " ) .
the day wide - eyed , shy new student cameron james ( joseph gordon - levitt ) starts school at seattle - based padua high , he is swept away at the sight of the beautiful and popular sophomore , bianca stratford ( larisa oleynik ) .
although he does n't know french , he purposefully learns some of it just so he can tutor her , but finds that her paranoid gynecologist father ( larry miller ) wo n't allow her to date until her bitter , unconventional older sister , kat ( julia stiles ) , a senior , decides to .
kat , of course , has sworn off the likes of boys , but cameron sets out to find someone that will be the perfect match for her , which is exactly what he finds in the form of the rebellious patrick verona ( heath ledger ) .
complicating matters , cameron 's dorky friend , michael ( david krumholtz ) , decides to use a wealthy jock , joey ( andrew keegan ) , who also has his sights set on bianca , as a pawn so that he will pay patrick to get kat to go out with him , and then cameron hopes to steal bianca away from joey .
as you can see , " 10 things i hate about you " includes a huge number of characters , some of which i have n't even mentioned , such as kat 's shakespeare - obsessed friend , mandella ( susan may pratt ) and bianca 's materialistic comrade , chastity ( gabrielle union ) .
at a short , but well - used running time of 98 minutes , all of the characters are perfectly handled , satisfyingly developed , and , for the most part , are not treated as caricatures ( another flaw of " she 's all that , " where the bad guys ( and gals ) ran around constantly saying , " you 're vapor " ) . since i could sympathize with the realistic depictions of the central characters , and since many of the comedic and dramatic scenes were surprisingly effective , i got completely caught up in all of the relationships and was thoroughly entertained . aside from a good screenplay , it 's the performances that can make or break a movie , and director junger has really hit the jackpot .
aside from joseph gordon - levitt
( " 3rd rock from the sun " ) , who gives his strongest performance to date here , none of the actors are that well - known , but it is this aspect that brings a particular freshness to the proceedings .
as the main character of kat , julia stiles ( last seen in the miniseries " the ' 60s " ) is marvelous and always believable , and certainly has a bright future ahead of her .
even though it is her role that is initially the most difficult and hard - edged , it was easy to identify with kat 's way of thinking ( she is against the silly tradition of the prom and loves reading sylvia plath ) , and i completely admired her individuality .
no one , i think , could have portrayed her as perfectly as stiles does .
heath ledger , as the infamous bad - boy of the town , injects much life into patrick , and has a lot of chemistry with stiles .
one other actor of note is larisa oleynik who , with the help of screenwriters lutz and smith , is able to turn bianca into a person with multi - dimensions , even though she is accurately self - centered at the on - set .
in one truthful scene , cameron angrily asks her if she has always been so selfish , and bianca grudgingly realizes that yes , she has .
one off - beat element of the film , and a source of some hearty laughs , is the way that the school 's staff act , which is strikingly unformal .
allison janney , as the guidance counselor ms .
perky , who is writing a trashy harlequin romance novel , is comic dynamite , as is daryl " chill " mitchell as the english teacher , who reads shakespeare to the class in rap and , at one point , sends kat to the office because , for once , she actually thinks one of his assignments is really good .
although there are a few cheap laughs that are thrown into the film near the beginning , most of it actually works , especially in the humorous and witty dialogue exchanges and quirks between the characters .
in one very funny scene , chastity asks , " i know people can be overwhelmed , and they can be underwhelmed , but can people just be . . .
whelmed ?
" at another point , bianca and kat 's father ( a stand - out larry miller ) , who is constantly terrified that his daughters are going to get pregnant , only allows bianca to go to the prom on one occasion : before she leaves , she has to put on the heavy fat suit he has
so she will get an idea of what it 's like to be pregnant .
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10 things i hate about you " once and for all proves that there is still life in the teen comedy genre , and this movie is probably more reminiscent of the great john hughes than any other film of the ' 90s .
it also helps that the movie has a perfectly - assembled soundtrack , mixing indie - rock with new wave ' 80s songs ( and with , thank goodness , no rap ) .
by the film 's end , it actually had me rooting for certain characters to get together , and i was also quite pleased with how everything was wrapped up , especially in the final scenes involving kat and bianca , kat and her father , and a flawlessly - acted and moving sequence in which kat gets up to read the poem she has written for her english class ( this is where the title comes from ) .
luckily , i doubt i would be able to find ten things i hate about " 10 things i hate about you , " but the positive aspects of the film far out - number ten .
has a bright future i was also quite pleased perfectly handled , satisfyingly developed gives his strongest performance to date charming and well - written an infinitely superior film has a lot of chemistry has really hit the jackpot marvelous and always believable the movie has a perfectly - assembled soundtrack the positive aspects of the film far out - number ten