I Finally Watched: '10 Things I Hate About You'

The movie I finally watched on Sunday is the oldest recording on my DVR and another teenage movie I did not see as a teenager: 10 Things I Hate About You.

When Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls in love with Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik), he learns that neither she nor her headstrong older sister, Kat (Julie Stiles), are allowed to date. But when the girls’ father allows Bianca to date when Kat does, the wheeling and dealing to find Kat a date begins. Bad-boy Patrick (Heath Ledger) is hired to pursue the difficult and combative Kat while Cameron must compete for Bianca’s attention.

Though I saw bits and pieces of 10 Things way back in the day, I never saw the whole thing ... until sometime last year. Yes, I watched 10 Things beginning to end once before and intended to write about it. I never did, so I enjoyed a second viewing on Sunday.

Released in 1999, 10 Things is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew—which I did not know until consulting the movie’s Wikipedia and IMDb pages. (Personally, I’m not a fan of Shakespeare or English Renaissance literature. I needed to study it for my major, but it’s not my cup of tea. Unfortunately for me, Shakespeare is insanely influential, so it behooves me to embrace and revisit his work.) The movie is peppered with references to the original play, which explains a lot of things, including the high school’s name (Padua), Patrick’s last name (Verona), and the poetic lines the characters drop here and there. I’ll admit it: the movie makes me want to read the play—or at least try.

10 Things is a fun and delightful movie. It is formulaic in that usual teen-movie, guy-meets-girl way, but it is playful and grounded, enjoyable and engaging. Much of that likely has to do with the vivacious and spirited acting and on-scene chemistry between the actors. David Krumholtz, who plays Michael, wrote that

the cast was experiencing what I’ve since found to be all too rare: a unified chemistry throughout the ensemble, without a single bad apple in the bunch. The experience was communal, it sang like a well-tuned chorus both onscreen and off-, and we all agreed that we were having the best summer of our lives. (https://www.vulture.com/2015/10/krumholtz-on-10-things-i-hate-about-you-cast.html)

It shows.

The movie features amazing scenery and locations in the Seattle and Tacoma area, including Stadium High School, which was a hotel before being renovated and used as a school. According to IMDb, the entire film was shot using real locations, which I think contributes to the film’s authenticity. 10 Things also has an awesome soundtrack, which, like I Know What You Did Last Summer, includes a couple remakes. I’m not sure why Letters to Cleo is performing on the roof of the school at the end, but it fits.

Speaking of authenticity, I feel the movie does a good job of capturing high school in the late nineties. Though there is a lot of humorous embellishment, especially with the distinctive and defined cliques (which do have a kernel of truth to them), it does feel more genuine to me, someone who attended high school in the late nineties. A lot of that could be because of the on-location filming. It could also be because most of the main actors were teens themselves at the time, adding a sincerity that other high school–centered movies lack. It feels familiar in good ways and bad since high school is an emotional roller coaster. Regardless, the film now has an enjoyable patina.

Though some of the characters are hyperbolic, they are believable and likeable. I love Mr. Morgan (Daryl Mitchell) and the aptly named Ms. Perky (Allison Janney), though I wish Ms. Perky had a larger role. Bianca and Kat’s father, Walter (Larry Miller), is overbearing, overprotective, and seems to lean sexist (or at least old-fashioned), but he is endearing and likeable in his own way, especially as he evolves during the course of the movie. I most identified with Cameron, and Michael is a lovable, hilarious sidekick and partner in crime. (I’ve always liked both Gordon-Levitt and Krumholtz. Krumholtz will always be Bernard from The Santa Clause for me since that’s when I first saw him, and I have a man crush on Gordon-Levitt. Speaking of crushes, I had a huge crush on Alex Mack when I was a kid, so Oleynik’s inclusion is a big plus in my book.) Patrick is mysterious throughout the movie, but he looks the part of a bad boy ... kind of; I was unconvinced he is scary or bad. The Stratford sisters work well as feuding siblings. (They also have to be the hottest sisters ever.) Interestingly, they mirror my sister and I in many ways, though I was not as smart, self-aware, knowledgeable, or strong-willed as Kat when I was a teenager. (I’m still not.) Both Stiles and Oleynik play their roles well and convincingly.

But 10 Things has holes. Mandella, who is supposedly Kat’s best friend, is underdeveloped. The movie reveals nothing about her except a creepy infatuation with Shakespeare. Her association with Kat is established by them appearing together a few times, but is otherwise vague. According to IMDb, “The original script was much darker than the one in the final film. In the original, Mandella (Kat’s best friend) referred openly and frequently to several suicide attempts, which were so that she could join William Shakespeare.” The script change is likely the reason why she’s a mystery.

There’s no backstory about Kat and Bianca’s absent mother. The Stratfords mention her leaving, but no other information is provided. Is it needed? I’m unsure, but it does make one wonder. Plus, wouldn’t it have been easier (and more believable) that she died? I did not think twice about the single-father element, but the absence of their mother and its vague explanation irks me as a realist.

One thing that bugs me is the title has little to do with the story. I waited in vain for a list to come into play. Kat’s poem near the end supposedly fits the bill, but I can’t help feeling cheated or misled. The story has nothing to do with the things any character hates about another. The title does have an interesting backstory, though: one of the writers found a list of things she hated about a boyfriend in her teenage diary.

Also, how realistic is it for two teenage girls to obey their father and not date? Though the no-dating rule is not an issue for Kat, it is for Bianca. I don’t know how believable it is for her to have obeyed the rule, especially since everyone knows how covert teens can be.

Also, the ending did not sit well with me. I don’t want to give it away, but Kat is way too feisty and independent to be appeased and so easily forgiving.

Here are some additional, itemized thoughts:

• Kat is shown reading The Bell Jar, which is a good book. According to IMDb, “Stiles had been cast to play Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar before it encountered financial difficulties.”

• Larry Miller. I know him best through his standup, which was a staple of Comedy Central in the early nineties. His signature bit was “The Five Levels of Drinking”—six if you live in a trailer park.

• The French textbook Cameron uses looks a lot like the old City High French textbook I recycled.

• It’s amazing how the main characters have the same classes.

• One thing I found improbable is Patrick playing pool and drinking beer in a biker bar. It adds to his bad-boy image, but his character has to be 18 at most, yet nobody seems to mind that he’s there. It’s a stretch.

• In the outdated category, Mr. Stratford has a beeper. I can’t remember if anyone uses a cell phone or not. Land lines are used, though.

• Is it believable that Patrick went to all the trouble of courting Kat for what is initially $20 or $50? It seems pretty cheap, though his price does increase.

• Despite the fact the big party promises free beer, someone is walking toward the house with a keg. Why bring a keg to a party with free beer?

• Speaking of beer, I paused the movie to examine the cans in the beer-can pyramid. The cans of Busch remind me of those I drank when I started drinking.