Review of 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) by Macey C — 10 Sep 2018

10 Things I Hate About You Review.

If you have seen this film, that is great and if you have not....welcome to my review where you will find out if this movie is for you or not. Alright let's get started......

"10 Things I Hate About You" is your average, teenage drama movie. It's that movie where young teens swoon over the good-looking characters and consistently keep watching "10 Things I Hate About You" until they know every single word from the movie.

I will be honest with you right now, I loved this film, like the kind of love when you find a new flavour of chocolate and you keep eating it. The movie was like that, except you obviously do not eat movies...

Information about the film:

"10 Things I Hate About You" is based from the famous poem "The Taming of the Shrew" written by William Shakespeare.

This movie was released in the year 1999.

The Director of 10 Things I Hate About You was Gil Junger.

The Genre/s of this movie was comedy, romance, drama, teen film.

Running time: 1 hr 39 minutes (99 minutes).

Names of Actors: Main.

(Main) Characters Names Played by.

Kat Stratford - Played by Julia Stiles.

Patrick Verona - Played by Heath Ledger.

Cameron James - Played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Bianca Stratford - Played by Larisa Oleynik.

Joey Donner - Played by Andrew Keegan.

Michael - Played by David Krumholtz.

'One, two, one two three four" are the first words you will hear when the movie begins. Music will start to drop a beat and you will find yourself tapping along to the rhythm. The Introduction is interesting. The movie starts with an oldie but a goodie (song).

The setting of the film does not look modern (mainly because it was filmed in the late 90's), however if your more into older films, I can tell you now you will enjoy this entertaining film. The setting and scenery is great and it is good to see what the 90's were like. At the beginning, you can tell which characters are the not "popular" people, but it makes you want to watch the movie to find out why they are not liked. The main story takes place in a high school and the actors themselves look like your average high school students.

Ms. Perky has a good sense of humour (Principal). Patrick Verona is your rebel male student who is not easily scared (people are scared of him). Cameron is the new student who instantly falls in love with a girl. Michael is a geek and becomes Cameron's best friend (Michael and Cameron are both goofy, I now see why they are best friends). Bianca is a beautiful, kind teenage girl who appears to be somewhat deep and meaningful. Then you have Kat. Kat always has an opinion on something (which annoys Mr. Morgan) and she does not care what people think of her. Mr Morgan (Teacher) does not take any nonsense at all. Mr Stratford is Bianca and Kat's strict father who only wants to protect his daughters. Finally there is Joey (do not be fooled by his looks!).

Kat Stratford isn't one to take anything personal and her sister Bianca is the complete opposite. Bianca is a sweet teenage girl who only wants to be adored and do what is "normal" for a teenager. Joey and Cameron both want Bianca (Joey doesn't want her for the right reason), but neither of them can date Bianca as her father has set rules that only she can date when her sister Kat dates. Let's point it out now, no one wants to date Kat for many reasons. Cameron and his mate Michael come up with a plan for Cameron to date Bianca. Michael convinces Joey to pay a guy brave enough to date Kat. Joey (not being the smartest cookie) agrees with Michael's suggestion . Patrick was the "lucky guy" who got paid to date Kat. As the story moves along, does Patrick keep taking the money or does he take something else?

All of the actor's skills and personalities matched the characters they played as and their acting skills were brilliant. The costumes that the characters wore really "connected" to the scenes. What I mean by that is that the costumes reflected the feeling or mood of the scene. The movie will keep you watching until the very end.

The music included in specific scenes suited the moods of the scenes (e.g. happy mood= happy song in the background) as well as the songs flowed with the scenes. If the scenes were sad, then soft, depressive music would be played to get the message across that the scene is meant to be sad. The songs such as "I want you to want me by Letters to Cleo, Can't take my eyes off you by Frankie Valli and Cruel to be Kind by Letters to Cleo were included in "10 Things I Hate About You" and it was a good decision that they were. The music and songs were well chosen and groovy, especially in the scene of the party (party, what party?)...

When I watched the film, I found scenes that I could relate to. When the scenes changed, they did so in a smooth and seamless manner, flowing nicely into the next scene and the story still made sense. The scenery was different to what I usually see in other movies. I am not a 90's kid, so it was interesting to watch this movie as the clothing and songs are very different to what is being worn and created now.

There are quotes and sayings in the film that will always be remembered, as they are either funny or meaningful. The quote that I thought was the best from 10 Things I Hate About You was "Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want". That quote was said by our late Australian actor Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger has also starred in "The Dark Knight Rises" as the Joker and as I look back to 10 Things I Hate About You, I can see the Joker's smile in Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger is my favourite character from "10 Things I Hate About You" as he has a great sense of humour and I simply enjoyed his acting in this specific movie.

There are scenes that will surprise you (in a good way), they certainly surprised me. One of my favourite surprises from the film was when Cameron was getting annoyed at Bianca and she turns his face and gives him a big kiss. I was surprised by that because in the previous scene, Bianca was interested in another guy, until a certain mishap had occurred. There are other plot twists within 10 Things I Hate About You, but the car scene was my favourite.

When I watched this movie, it also reminded me of another movie called "The Duff". "The Duff" is also a great romance, comedy film.

The cinematography of "10 Things I Hate About You" was great. There was only one part where cinematography was used and that part was the very beginning. At the beginning the movie starts off with a scenery of trees and buildings, but the scenery looks like it was drawn. This scene then changes into the real life thing, with the trees swaying and cars driving. I believe this cinematography technique was interesting and original.

In the party scene, the mid shot (camera) showed the main characters talking whilst showing everyone else who was at the party in the background. The music at the party does not overpower the character's conversation, but it still looks and sounds like a party. When the camera was in close-up position, this shot captured the characters emotions and although the characters were not looking directly at the camera, you could still read their faces. All the camera shots captured all the details of the characters. Also in the party scene, the air seemed to be misty, which I'm guessing was either from the party or it was the quality of the camera lens.

In my opinion I found that the last scenes had a lot of meaning and emotions to them, which made the viewers want to find out what finally happens. Also, if a list is being read, remember to count.

You can see the way Kat and Patrick's personalities changed throughout 10 Things I Hate About You. I enjoyed the change in the characters personalities as this made me feel warm and fuzzy inside because that is what romantic movies want you to feel. What I thought was really good in "10 Things I Hate About You" was that they recognised love and how it can change someone.

This movie is a great choice, especially if you are looking for a romantic, comedy movie. Like I mentioned before I really enjoyed this movie and I am sure you will too. The script appears to be well written as the movie has a nice and interesting story behind it. I believe the message behind this film is "do it for love, not money". "10 Things I Hate About You" isn't just all about teenage love drama, there are scenes that, no doubt, will make you laugh. "10 Things I Hate About You" will keep you glued onto the screen to see if Patrick and Bianca fall in love or if they fall apart.

There was a minor thing that I did not think was necessary. I apologise now if I spoil a part of the movie. There was a scene where a group of people were asked if they would date Kat and then individually showed their reactions and their emotions. However, I did not think that was necessary, as the people had already heard the question at the same time. Minus that tiny concern, the movie was excellent.

As much as I have agreed to how good of a film "10 Things I Hate About You" is, I would recommend this movie for teenagers and older women. However, male adults might not find this movie as entertaining.

*Before you watch the movie, I will warn you that there are sexual references, drug references and coarse language in the movie. This movie is rated PG.