10 Things I Hate About You Review (1999)– A fun, nostalgia trip with a surprisingly good romance!
The final movie of Valentine’s month! In keeping with our romantic movie month, this weekend, we decided to rewatch an old favorite! 10 Things I Hate About You! This one is a nostalgic walk down memory lane for us potatoes and after having rewatched it, we are reminded of why we love it so much!
We will do everything we can to not give too many spoilers in this review but there are likely to be some, so please take that into consideration and read cautiously.
The film begins with some very fun music playing over a car full of teenage girls that’s stopped at a stoplight. The girls are dancing in the car and listening to “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies. We pan over the vehicle next to them, an older, beat-up classic car, with a single young lady who looks thoroughly annoyed and is blasting her own music: “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. From the very beginning, we were in love with the soundtrack for this film!
We then shift over to the high school where a good portion of our story takes place. We meet Ms. Perky (Allison Janney), the principal who has a tendency to write erotica in her free time (AT SCHOOL) and who has a very blunt way of speaking to the students. We also meet Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is meeting with Ms. Perky about having his first day at this new high school. We are also introduced to Michael (David Krumholtz), who shows Cameron around, describing the various cliques around school and how to navigate/interact with them.
In one of the ongoing classes, we meet Kat (Julia Stiles), the girl from the opening scene who was blasting Joan Jett. From her interactions with the other students and the teacher we learn that she is very intelligent, outspoken and says what’s on her mind, much to the discomfort of some of the boys in the room. Joey (Andrew Keegan), who serves as a teenage antagonist and all-around douche bag throughout the film, says some truly horrible things to Kat during class to which the Teacher, Mr. Morgan (Daryl Mitchell), says “Someday, you’re gonna get bitch-slapped and I'm not gonna do a thing to stop it.” Mr. Morgan is hilarious and tends to call out his students on their crap.
Kat does eventually get sent to the principal’s office by Mr. Morgan. Ms. Perky has a very brief talk with Kat about how she has often been described as a “heinous bitch”, and she recommends that Kat work on that. This was one of the funniest interactions since Ms. Perky describes Kat’s behavior as “terrorizing”. Kat defends herself by saying that voicing her opinion isn’t a terrorist act, to which Ms. Perky recalls Kat “voicing” her opinion to another boy who needed a testicle retrieval surgery. One of the funniest lines from Kat comes when she says: “I still maintain that he kicked himself in the balls.”
Overall, we potatoes think that Kat brings up some valid points throughout the film, often speaking about patriarchal issues, female equality/empowerment, and her curiosity about why society functions the way it does.
Before the school day ends, we are also introduced to Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), Kat’s sister, who according to Michael’s description to a pining Cameron, is unattainable since the Stratford sisters are known for not being allowed to date by their father.
Their dad, Walter Stratford (Larry Miller), has a very strict rule that Kat and Bianca can’t date until they have graduated. However, after hearing from her own mouth that Kat does not intend to date at all during high school, he imposes a new rule, Bianca is only allowed to date when Kat starts dating!
Although we have some issues with the dad’s strictness and rules, he is also a favorite character! He has some of the funniest lines in the film. For example, after Kat purposely rams her car into Joey’s car for blocking her into her parking space, he says: “My insurance does not cover PMS!”
The plot of the movie revolves around Cameron’s scheme to date Bianca. Of course, based on the rule that the girl’s dad came up with, Kat would need to start dating first. Cameron and Michael come up with the idea to have some tough guy, who they think may be able to handle Kat, start dating her for money! They ask Joey to be their money backer for this plan and Joey agrees, with his own motive to date Bianca himself. Joey then approaches Patrick (Heath Ledger), to start wooing and dating Kat for money. Patrick is a pretty mysterious character through the beginning of the movie, with lots of gossip and rumors about how he is a criminal, ex-porn star, and generally an unapproachable bad ass. After some haggling, he does agree to start dating Kat for cash.
We’ll leave it there so you can see how everything plays out for yourself. The film is a little predictable, but it’s still one of our favorite romantic comedies and is a very fun watch!
There are many references to Shakespeare throughout the film, including notable plays such as “The Taming of the Shrew”, various quotes and dialogue, and visual references as well. This was a nice touch and, funny enough, by association makes the film feel more timeless.
One of the things that this movie does very well is showing and not telling. We learn a lot about each character from their interactions with the other characters as well as the way they go about their daily lives. At the times that we are told relevant information about a character, it is naturally interjected into the conversation.
For example, when we meet Kat and Bianca’s father, he is lecturing them about not having boyfriends and trying to warn them about the dangers of pregnancy. He says “This morning, I delivered a set of twins to a fifteen-year-old girl...” – This tells us that he is a doctor, surgeon, and OBGYN all from this one sentence. There’s no excessive elaboration. The implication is left up the audience member and it’s very well done.
One of the things that bothered us potatoes is how Bianca seems to blame Kat for not being able to do the things she wants to do. Kat does not have an interest in most of the things that Bianca is interested in, and since their father has stated that Bianca is basically not allowed to do things unless Kat does, Bianca has a tendency to blame Kat for her inability to have fun!
We potatoes think this is very unfair, but also very real. The father has effectively pitted the two sisters against each other by shifting the blame of whether Bianca can participate in fun teenage things on whether Kat will do them too. This means that, in very teenager fashion, Bianca is going to lash out Kat instead of their father who is the real person to blame!
Bianca should be upset with her father! He has been pitting the two sisters against each other and straining their relationship even further. But because Bianca is a teenager she does not necessarily have the wherewithal to see what their father is doing to them. Not at all her fault, she is a child but still…we wish that they both realized who the cause of their issues was truly.
We do still think the father is pretty funny overall…but we do not love this behavior from him. It is not fair at all to his daughters who deserve to have a loving bond that does not involve him. It is rather petty and immature of him!
But! We still love this film! It’s what we consider to be a classic Rom Com! It’s a very fun film and particularly distinctive. The setting, teen drama, and time frame give it a unique, nostalgic, fun twist that we had a great time watching!
If you like movies with a heavy leaning toward silliness, fun, high school drama and romance, with a nice hit of 90’s to early 2000’s vibes, then this is the movie for you! We highly recommend you check it out!
We give 10 Things I Hate About You 4 out of 5 shots of tequila!
10 Things I Hate About You Drinking Game
Take a sip anytime:
1. Dad complains about teenagers
2. Dad says something funny
3. Dad mentions pregnancy or gynecology
4. Someone drinks alcohol
5. You see someone kissing
6. Someone is called a bitch
7. Someone says “Hate”
8. There is a reference to Shakespeare
9. Kat says something snarky
10. Good song plays
11. Teen clique on screen
12. Anytime Ms. Perky is writing erotica
13. Patrick flirts with Kat
14. Patrick does a grand gesture
15. Cameron is awkward
16. Michael is geeky
17. Mr. Morgan is snarky
18. Joey flexes, poses, or looks at himself in the mirror
19. Joey is an asshole/a douche
20. Bianca says something ditzy
21. Bianca is manipulative
22. Anyone gossips
What did you think?? Did you like the movie? Did you hate it!? Do you have suggestions for films we should consider?! Let us know here in the comments and always remember to be safe and drink responsibly!