Director: Gil Junger
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Copyright: 1999
ASIN: B00000K31Q
Age Level/Interest Age: Grade 7 and up
Genre: Comedy
Viewer’s Annotation: In this modern take on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Kat (Julia Stiles) refuses to date until Patrick (Heath Ledger) wins her over.
Plot Summary
Kat and Bianca are sisters, but they could hardly be more different. Kat, a senior, has just been accepted to Sarah Lawrence. She is a staunch feminist, listens to alternative music, and has exactly one friend at school. She is uninterested in dating. Bianca, a sophomore, is beautiful (and vain), popular, and eager to date. Though the girls don’t get along very well, they’re united in their frustration with their father. He won’t allow Kat to go to Sarah Lawrence and he won’t allow Bianca to date. He finally relents slightly with a new rule: Bianca may date if and when Kat does.
Meanwhile, Cameron, the new kid in school, has fallen for Bianca and arranged to tutor her in French (even though he doesn’t really speak French). When Bianca tells him about her father’s rule, he comes up with a plan. He convinces Joey, a rich, popular senior who’s also interested in Bianca, to pay someone to date Kat. But first they have to find someone crazy enough to do it. Enter Patrick, an outsider with a reputation for wildness. With some coaxing, he gets Kat to go out with him a few times. Bianca starts dating Joey, but Cameron is still looking for his chance with her. Unflattering revelations about both of the sisters’ beaux lead to a dustup at the prom.
Critical Evaluation
Though 10 Things I Hate About You doesn’t avoid all the teen movie clichés, it is still smarter and funnier than most of what passes for teen romantic comedy. It also wins by having a female lead who has interests and aspirations beyond beauty and boys, and by not forcing her to change to get the guy. (Okay, she changes a little bit. But just by opening up to people.) Julia Stiles is very appealing as Kat, playing her as unusually serious for this type of role. Heath Ledger as Patrick is a very cute, warm-hearted bad boy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron is funny and endearingly dorky. Less successful are the stock side characters, especially the overprotective father and the geeky AV kid, who are more annoying than funny. There many shout-outs to the source material, from characters' names to actual quotes from Taming of the Shrew. The overall effect is one of earnestness. One other quibble: though the movie is set in Seattle, it never rains. Realism FAIL.
Curriculum Ties: English--Shakespeare--The Taming of the Shrew
Booktalking Ideas: N/A
Challenge Issues: Language, alcohol, sex talk
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll include a positive review from the Edinburgh University Film Society, mixed reviews from The New York Times and Roger Ebert, and negative reviews from The San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner.
About the Author: N/A
Why is this title included?
This smart comedy has appealing leads. It's very re-watchable.