By Jasmine Born, Staff Writer
What comes to mind when you picture a romantic comedy? Probably the classic tropes of love triangles, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, or forbidden love, as found in The Notebook (2004), Pride and Prejudice (2005), and You’ve Got Mail (1998), right?
Karen M. Lutz and Kirsten Smith elegantly capture all four of those tropes in writing the screenplay for one fantastic ’90s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, with 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).
Growing up, I must have watched this movie about 7 billion times, loving every single moment, and I can most-definitely recite each line word-for-word.
The film stars Julia Stiles as the witty and non-conforming Kat Stratford and Heath Ledger, known for his iconic Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), as the mysterious bad boy, Patrick Verona. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who later stars as Tom in 500 Days of Summer (2009), plays Cameron James, who is incredibly smitten with Kat’s younger sister, Bianca, played by Larisa Oleynik. Cameron would go to no end to have Bianca like him, even going as far as learning French when she needed a tutor! Cameron’s right hand man, Michael, is played by the comical David Krumholtz, who was the insanely funny Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause (1994) and its sequel.
The director, Gil Junger, got his start in 1999 with directing this film, and from there had countless directing and writing jobs in the industry, even as recently as 2020. Junger did a wonderful job in making the characters in 10TIHAY act as believable as possible.
When asked about Stiles’ and Ledger’s characters, senior Leah Nesmith said she “loved their chemistry” and especially loved the incredibly charming Heath Ledger, although picking between Patrick and Cameron was tough for her.
On the other hand, another senior here at The Hill, Jocelyn Baker, believes that romcoms in general have questionable acting, but stated that “it’s not the acting that’s fire, it’s the plot.”
The “fire” plot in question…
Kat and Bianca’s father, a hilariously over protective parent who refuses to let either of his daughters date, strategically comes up with a clever rule that Bianca cannot date unless her older sister Kat does. Bianca knows it will be difficult to get with the hottest senior in school who likes her, Joey Donner (played by Andrew Keegan), when her sister, rather than showing any interest in boys, actually seems to hate them.
In an attempt to free Cameron’s dream girl from the no-dating policy, Michael strikes a deal with Joey where Joey will pay someone to date Kat, and as a result Joey can supposedly date Bianca.
The difficult part was finding someone brave enough to take out the Kat Stratford, notorious in her school for being abrasive and opinionated, but eventually Patrick Verona is found to be the perfect fit. And thus a fake relationship occurs between Kat and Patrick, with Kat blind to its falsehood.
But as both fall for the other, trouble is sure to come due to the unethical foundation on which it began
As characters uncover different truths that change everything, the story gets more and more complicated for them, but for us, it only gets more interesting.
What makes this film different from the romcoms of today, such as To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018), is the music. Genuine to its time, the funky ’90s music in 10TIHAY really adds to the feel of the film that you don’t get as much with movies today with its poppy music.
Songs such as “Word Up” by Cameo, “Cruel to Be Kind” by Letters to Cleo, and “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa will be heard during your watch.
One of the greatest scenes in the movie is when Kat steps out of her usual non-conforming boundaries by attending a houseparty and ends up getting up on a table and dancing to Big Poppa’s classic song “Hypnotize.” Songs like these allow the audience to live the ’90s high school experience.
The cinematography done by highly experienced Mark Irwin can be majorly appreciated as bird’s eye angles, establishing shots of the school, and close ups during intimate scenes contribute to the greatness of this film.
The way the scene of Kat delivering her iconic “10 Things I Hate About You” poem is set up by Irwin, beginning with medium shots and later close-ups of both Kat and Patrick’s faces, was extraordinarily captivating. Even senior Wonjae Suh, admits “Not gonna lie, I kinda cried when Kat read her poem to the class.”
If this movie were to be scored out of 10, as Leah puts it, 10TIHAY would receive an “11/10, it’s a classic.” If you’re ready to fall in love with the dreamy Patrick Verona, or the lovable Cameron James, or the headstrong Kat Stratford, then you can find this movie on Disney Plus or Hulu with a subscription. Many other streaming services offer it as well with costs up to only $3.99.
So are you ready to dive into a 90s classic that will make you simultaneously fall in love, laugh, and cry, all at the same time?