A classic of the nineties youth romantic comedies, 10 Things I Hate About You shows impossible love stories, placing them in the micro-universe of the American high school. The synopsis is based on the book "The Tamed Shrew" by William Shakespeare, and tells the story of Kat and Bianca Strattford (Larisa Oleynik), two sisters who are completely opposite in personality. While Bianca aims to be popular and find a boyfriend, Kat is tough, outspoken, feminist and doesn't care what her schoolmates think of her. The girls' father is strict and creates a rule to prevent them from going out: knowing that Kat shows no interest in boys, he stipulates that Bianca can only date when her sister does too. That's the hook for the events to unfold, when Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the new boy in town who falls in love with Bianca, and his friend Michael (David Krumholtz), devise a plan and decide to persuade Joe (Andrew Keegan), a male model who is also in love with Bianca, to pay someone to date his older sister. However, the only one willing to face the tough Kat is Patrick (Heath Ledger), a bad boy with several mysteries about him.
More than a true adaptation of Shakespeare's work, 10 Things I Hate About You works more like a tribute to the English playwright. In addition to the similarities in the story, the director and screenwriters left their clues, especially in choosing the names of the main characters. If for the sisters the names were left exactly the same - Bianca and Kat, nickname for Katharina, or Katherine in English - all the others were changed, but keeping a link with the work or the very life of Shakespeare. Petrusco from the play was given the name Patrick Verona, a good transition from the Italian name to the English one, the surname being a clear reference to the character's hometown in the play. The girls' father, who in the play is Baptist, was given the name Walter Stratford - an allusion to Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. There are at least two more explicit references to Shakespeare: the name of the school where the young people in the film study is called Padua - the city where the original play takes place - and Kat's friend Mandella is passionate about the English master's theater.
The film results in a romantic comedy well within Hollywood standards, despite references to Shakespeare and his work The Tamed Shrew. A lot had to be adapted to today. Today's girls just want to date; they don't think about marriage. Kat is not necessarily a bitch like in the play, but only with feminist ideals, which do not include submitting to the whims of men, being a woman who wants to stand out for her intelligence more than physical attributes. It's nice and unusual for an unpretentious romantic comedy to pay homage to a classic writer that many students read out of obligation at school.
It is very skillfully that the plot addresses various relationships, especially the love triangle involving Bianca, Cameron and Joey and Kat and Patrick, but in addition, several of these characters have interpersonal relationships that despite being related to the story have their own nuances. For this to work, the film has well-defined scenes (as in the theater) in which the audience can understand what is happening in each relationship without one interfering with the other, of course Kat and Patrick are more interesting, but the couple's charisma and its very essence was written in the 16th century to have greater public appeal.
That's why "10 Things I Hate About You" is capable of having so many memorable scenes, for me nothing beats Heath Ledger singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" to Kat during soccer practice, but the party scene at the rich boys' house and the scene in which Julia Stiles gives a spectacular performance and reads her sonnet (inspired by a sonnet by Shakespeare) and finally declares her love for Patrick are striking scenes and much remembered by the public. This film, of course, has a script advantage which is Shakespeare's dialogue, most famously the first time Cameron sees Bianca and recites "I burn, I weaken, I perish" using cultured English to reference the original work, of course. While this goes for the sonnet at the end and for the little nods that the script makes to the playwright himself, the dialogue between sidekicks Michael and Mandella using the text of "Macbeth" comes in very well, especially when thinking about the content of what is said.
The ambiance contributes a lot to the construction of a 1990s moment, the soundtrack filled with artists such as The Cardigans, Letters From Cleo and even "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" had recently found success again in the voice of Ms Lauryn Hill. Escola Pádua has a building that resembles a castle, referring to the scenario of the play, but the costumes recall the fashion of the 1990s, platform sandals and baby look blouses put us in their own time in a story told 400 years earlier. As a good adaptation of "10 Things I Hate About You", brings several of the themes of "A Tamed Shrew" with a different look, an interesting nod is that in the play, the action often happens through references to the theater, the film relates to this because the two key moments are the scene where Patrick sings to Kat and the scene where she recites a poem in front of the class to him. But the main theme is transformation: by the end of the movie Bianca and Kat are more like each other, after Kat opens up emotionally and Bianca reacts to what she didn't like. Another important influence is the theme of the relationship between the characters, be it the arc of the father with the daughters, which in the end is resolved, or the love relationship, which we never see but we have hints, the film not only depends on but also explores the possibilities of relationships between people.
Light and fun as befits an unassuming romantic comedy, including the inevitable happy ending, the recipe paid off and the film was an unexpected success, particularly in the US, thanks in no small part to a love interest that has their chemistry. At least one scene stands out and has become classic: when Patrick confesses to Kat on the school football field, singing Can't Take My Eyes Off You. With proper proportions, it is almost the equivalent of a monologue in a classic theatrical play. "10 Things I Hate About You" may seem too shallow or escapist in the extreme, but it translates Shakespeare in a way that few professional theater companies can. Shakespeare wrote about young people and built a comedy about love and opposites. By transforming the 16th-century classic into a 1999 modern adventure, director Gil Junger reaches the audience Shakespeare was meant to reach: young audiences.
More than being remembered for its quality as a film or its free adaptation of a famous and classic Shakespearean play, 10 Things I Hate About You has entered the memory of moviegoers for having brought together in the same film three young talents who would soon stand out: Julia Stiles (The Bourne Identity, Mona Lisa Smile), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Looper) and Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight).
Can we say that "10 Things I Hate About You" is the best teen romantic comedy ever? It's hard to say, but he shows that you can do teen romance with technical quality. So, is it the best teen romantic comedy in recent years, being able to create characters and scenes so striking and irreverent to the point of being so remembered by the public. There's so much heart in "10 Things I Hate About You" that it's a hard movie to hate.
More than a true adaptation of Shakespeare's work, 10 Things I Hate About You works more like a tribute to the English playwright. In addition to the similarities in the story, the director and screenwriters left their clues, especially in choosing the names of the main characters. If for the sisters the names were left exactly the same - Bianca and Kat, nickname for Katharina, or Katherine in English - all the others were changed, but keeping a link with the work or the very life of Shakespeare. Petrusco from the play was given the name Patrick Verona, a good transition from the Italian name to the English one, the surname being a clear reference to the character's hometown in the play. The girls' father, who in the play is Baptist, was given the name Walter Stratford - an allusion to Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. There are at least two more explicit references to Shakespeare: the name of the school where the young people in the film study is called Padua - the city where the original play takes place - and Kat's friend Mandella is passionate about the English master's theater.
The film results in a romantic comedy well within Hollywood standards, despite references to Shakespeare and his work The Tamed Shrew. A lot had to be adapted to today. Today's girls just want to date; they don't think about marriage. Kat is not necessarily a bitch like in the play, but only with feminist ideals, which do not include submitting to the whims of men, being a woman who wants to stand out for her intelligence more than physical attributes. It's nice and unusual for an unpretentious romantic comedy to pay homage to a classic writer that many students read out of obligation at school.
It is very skillfully that the plot addresses various relationships, especially the love triangle involving Bianca, Cameron and Joey and Kat and Patrick, but in addition, several of these characters have interpersonal relationships that despite being related to the story have their own nuances. For this to work, the film has well-defined scenes (as in the theater) in which the audience can understand what is happening in each relationship without one interfering with the other, of course Kat and Patrick are more interesting, but the couple's charisma and its very essence was written in the 16th century to have greater public appeal.
That's why "10 Things I Hate About You" is capable of having so many memorable scenes, for me nothing beats Heath Ledger singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" to Kat during soccer practice, but the party scene at the rich boys' house and the scene in which Julia Stiles gives a spectacular performance and reads her sonnet (inspired by a sonnet by Shakespeare) and finally declares her love for Patrick are striking scenes and much remembered by the public. This film, of course, has a script advantage which is Shakespeare's dialogue, most famously the first time Cameron sees Bianca and recites "I burn, I weaken, I perish" using cultured English to reference the original work, of course. While this goes for the sonnet at the end and for the little nods that the script makes to the playwright himself, the dialogue between sidekicks Michael and Mandella using the text of "Macbeth" comes in very well, especially when thinking about the content of what is said.
The ambiance contributes a lot to the construction of a 1990s moment, the soundtrack filled with artists such as The Cardigans, Letters From Cleo and even "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" had recently found success again in the voice of Ms Lauryn Hill. Escola Pádua has a building that resembles a castle, referring to the scenario of the play, but the costumes recall the fashion of the 1990s, platform sandals and baby look blouses put us in their own time in a story told 400 years earlier. As a good adaptation of "10 Things I Hate About You", brings several of the themes of "A Tamed Shrew" with a different look, an interesting nod is that in the play, the action often happens through references to the theater, the film relates to this because the two key moments are the scene where Patrick sings to Kat and the scene where she recites a poem in front of the class to him. But the main theme is transformation: by the end of the movie Bianca and Kat are more like each other, after Kat opens up emotionally and Bianca reacts to what she didn't like. Another important influence is the theme of the relationship between the characters, be it the arc of the father with the daughters, which in the end is resolved, or the love relationship, which we never see but we have hints, the film not only depends on but also explores the possibilities of relationships between people.
Light and fun as befits an unassuming romantic comedy, including the inevitable happy ending, the recipe paid off and the film was an unexpected success, particularly in the US, thanks in no small part to a love interest that has their chemistry. At least one scene stands out and has become classic: when Patrick confesses to Kat on the school football field, singing Can't Take My Eyes Off You. With proper proportions, it is almost the equivalent of a monologue in a classic theatrical play. "10 Things I Hate About You" may seem too shallow or escapist in the extreme, but it translates Shakespeare in a way that few professional theater companies can. Shakespeare wrote about young people and built a comedy about love and opposites. By transforming the 16th-century classic into a 1999 modern adventure, director Gil Junger reaches the audience Shakespeare was meant to reach: young audiences.
More than being remembered for its quality as a film or its free adaptation of a famous and classic Shakespearean play, 10 Things I Hate About You has entered the memory of moviegoers for having brought together in the same film three young talents who would soon stand out: Julia Stiles (The Bourne Identity, Mona Lisa Smile), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Looper) and Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight).
Can we say that "10 Things I Hate About You" is the best teen romantic comedy ever? It's hard to say, but he shows that you can do teen romance with technical quality. So, is it the best teen romantic comedy in recent years, being able to create characters and scenes so striking and irreverent to the point of being so remembered by the public. There's so much heart in "10 Things I Hate About You" that it's a hard movie to hate.