10 Things I Hate About You is the adaptation of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew set in high school. The film follows various teenagers and their sorted love affairs throughout the days leading up to prom. Julia Stiles plays the angsty (is that a word?) Kat Stratford and Heath Ledger plays bad boy Patrick Verona. Patrick is payed by the baddie of the film, Joey Donner, to date Kat so that Joey can date her younger sister Bianca. Also, we follow Cameron and his pal Michael while they try to set up Joey as a pawn so that Cameron can weasel around and snake Bianca. Got all that?
I watched 10 Things I Hate About You on a recommendation from a certain friend. I realized that I should seriously stop listening to this person for my film recommendation needs as this was the same person who suggested Garden State, which is one of those films that people who want to pretend that they're really smart about films always talk about. However, if they were smart, they would know that Garden State is an incredibly dull and pointless film that doesn't have a single great aspect about it. But, I digress because this review is not about Garden State. The first ten or so minutes of 10 Things I Hate About You is pretty entertaining. After that, there isn't anything exceedingly special or entertaining about the film. It's pretty much your standard high school film. It is full of all the cliques, cliches, and stereotypes we all just love to see in a high school film. Wait, we don't love seeing all those things?
The dialogue is almost all completely atrocious. It strides, wishes, and prays that it was funny, but it's not worthy enough. Lines like, "What planet are you from? Planet Loser?" and responses such as, "As opposed to Planet Look At Me?" make you scratch your head and wonder how long the writer thought of a cracking good line like that. The performances are mostly average at best. Heath Ledger is good for what he was stiding to be in the film. He didn't give a great or even good perfomance, but he's someone that I always love watching. I don't know how to explain that, but I think Ledger played many likeable characters and he seemed to be a likeable person in the real world. Julia Stiles is decent as the bitchy Kat and I liked her and Ledger best in the film.
10 Things I Hate About You is a collection of boring, high school romance fodder with the ocassional good scene. Overall, nothing special and nothing of note.
5/10
1 comment:
Ehm! You totally dismissed Garden State just after wanking off on Titanic in your previous post, common!
Bad Titanic taste aside, Garden State isn't that bad, it certainly can't be compared to 'Ten Things...'' just because it's used as an ''indie credibility card'' because it's a little kooky and different but mainstream enough for people to know it doesn't make the film itself any worse. Try to separate the film from the buzz that it can't be blamed for.
Garden State is at least about something, about growing up, returning home and feeling isolated, different. About a place and a time. 10 things.. and Titanic aren't about anything they just vacuous rubbish!
Post a Comment