indulge in some quiet time |
. |
|
|||||||||||||
copyright
©1999-2000 |
Plot synopsis Stealing the plot from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and dumping it into a modern-day Seattle high school, 10 Things I Hate About You tells the story of two teenaged sisters, Bianca and Kat Stratford. Younger sister Bianca is cute, perky, and popular. Kat, on the other hand, is a militant feminist, Sylvia-Plath- toting terror, whose quick wit, acerbic tongue, and refusal to take crap from anyone have ensured that every guy at school is now deathly afraid to approach her. Unfortunately for Bianca, no boys for Kat means no boys for her, since their hyper-protective father has decided that as long as big sister Kat doesn’t date, Bianca isn’t allowed to either. When new boy in school Cameron falls for Bianca, he and his pal Michael devise a convoluted plan that’ll leave Bianca free to date: trick rich asshole Joey Donner, who’s set his sights on Bianca himself, to pay someone to date Kat. After searching high and low, they find the one guy in school who just might be a match for scary Kat – mysterious bad boy Patrick Verona. Naturally, the situation grows complicated when Patrick actually finds himself falling in love with Kat. Review The plot is predictable, the characters (for the most part) stereotypical, the castle-like high school and perpetually blue Seattle (?!?) skies utterly (though charmingly) unrealistic. Yet 10 Things I Hate About You is one of those movies that I just never get tired of watching. To begin with, it’s chock full of funny secondary characters tossing witty quips left and right – there’s Larry Miller’s zealously strict father, whose job as an ob-gyn has made him completely paranoid about the mere thought of his beloved daughters coming into contact with boys ("Kissing is not what keeps me up to my elbows every day in placenta"), the fabulous Allison Janney’s Ms. Perky, a guidance counseler/aspiring romance novelist, and David Krumholtz’s lovable AV geek Michael ("Uhh, excuse me, just one question before we start. Should you be drinking alcohol when you don't have a liver?"). And that’s just to name a few. Beyond the funny factor, though, is the fact that the romance between Julia Stiles’ Kat and Heath Ledger’s Patrick Verona, contrived as it is, just works. Their relationship is a sexy balance of fast-flying, screw-you verbal banter and sweet tentativeness, and it’s wonderful the way Patrick brings out the vulnerability in Kat without ever forcing her to become anything other than the strong-willed, opinionated, independent girl that she is. All of which means that there’s no need to feel guilty when, at the end, you find yourself rooting for the inevitable happy ending. — reviewed by Yee-Fan Sun
---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home .
|