Even the title is very young. “10 Things I Hate About You” is so teenager and light, could just be another kind of rom-com, and so cheerful that it is needless to frown or scowl to watch this flick. This is the kind of movie you could enjoy with your friends (or, especially, with your girl/boyfriend) and a bowl of popcorn and a glass of soda in your spare time. “10 Things I Hate About You” is actually a modern-day adaptation of classic play by William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew” (and you can see some references and clues about it in the movie), but, regardless of that, it is just an easy movie.

“10 Things I Hate About You” starts off with Cameron (played by the teenager Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a new student in Padua High School, had a tour around his new school with Michael (played by David Krumholtz) who then became his best friend. Suddenly, Cameron spotted Bianca (played by Larisa Oleynik) and said that she’s beautiful, although Michael prohibited him to know more about her because she wasn’t allowed to date by her dad (played by Larry Miller) and she had a troublesome sister, Kat (played by Julia Stiles). While Bianca was attracted by Joey Donner (played by Andrew Keegan), it is then known then she would be allowed to date by her dad if and only if her sister Kat also went for the date. Then, Cameron and Michael planned a strategy to ask Patrick Verona (played by Heath Ledger), a troublesome senior, to date Kat in order to make Bianca allowed to go for the date.

Now I think you get the idea of which “shrew” is going to be “tamed” in this new-age version of “The Taming of the Shrew”. See how young “10 Things I Hate About You” is: set in a high school, a new student, pretty schoolgirl, going for a date, and seniors. Sometimes it brings me back to my old memories of high school. The story was just so light and bright, and it is just silly to take the story seriously (or even searching for any plot holes and whatnot). It is purely an entertainment that perhaps so easy to be forgotten but also a nice one-shoot thing you could use to spend the night. There is nothing special, except that it has its own heart-warming moment and some giggles all around. And, as I have told you before, this is the kind of movie you could spend with your (teenager) girl- or boy- (puppy-lover) friend, and for this purpose, it's worth a DVD rent. The lightness of the story is not that kind of things you could compare with other similar rom-com, because although it is still predictable and full of cliche, it’s kind of a fresh plot. The story is developed well (I don’t know if it is because the Shakespeare play did so), and it is always nice seeing where the story will bring you to. Moreover, there are parts that make me laugh and a good choice of supporting music.

The big thing I noticed from “10 Things I Hate About You” is the cast. Seriously, it is just funny seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his teens. This movie was released in 1999, so I guess Gordon-Levitt was just about 17 or 18 years old at that time. And he is so... different from he looks now, haha (I was about to use word “uncool” to describe him, but... whatever :D), but still he appears like he has a potent to act nicely and be a promising new star, because although he wasn’t so noticeable with his character, he did an “enough” acting. All I could see from him is a young and dynamic spirit, so different from Ledger. Heath Ledger (may he rests in peace), beside of his nice look and maturity, has an unseen likability that makes him easy to attract girl. He is one of the “shrews”, but still he could be the most favorite actor in this movie. Another “shrew” is, of course, Julie Stiles. Beyond of her sarcastic dialogues and behaviors, it is just hard not seeing her as a nice girl. Seeing how she finally (and by perforce) went to the party just to make her sister be permitted to go to the party tells me that she is not a real troublesome character, but she is just a picky, straight-forwarded, and ignorant girl. Stiles could nicely differentiate her character from just being a girl with psychological problem, since she showed the viewers that, in a way, the “shrew” will eventually be “tamed”. And she made a better chemistry with Ledger, compared to Gordon-Levitt and Oleynik.

So, what are the 10 things he hates about her or she hates about him? There is a nice answer for that in the ending, but finally “10 Things I Hate About You” has nothing spectacular to make it deserves my amazement. It is just amusing, sweet, and simple. It’s still the one that you can try to spend with your crush, or even if you can’t do it, you can just spend it all alone with an iced chocolate and a chocolate-creamed donut (like I did). Haha.

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 ▲  Simply entertaining

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10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU | COUNTRY USA YEAR 1999 RATING Rated PG-13 for crude sex-related humor and dialogue, alcohol and drug-related scenes, all involving teens RUNTIME 97 min GENRE Comedy, Drama, Romance CAST Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz WRITER William Shakespeare (play), Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith (screenplay) DIRECTOR Gil Junger IMDB RATING 7.0/10 METACRITIC 70/100 (Generally Favorable) ROTTEN TOMATOES 61% MORE INFO