How do I loathe thee... let me count the ways. (10 Things I Hate About You (DVD))

Member Name: DixieChick101

Product:	10 Things I Hate About You (DVD)
Date:	09/03/08 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting, great storyline.

Disadvantages: how do they afford everything?

For years now 10 Things I Hate About you has been my favourite film, it's got everything; great music, great cast, great acting and of course eye candy, but it's still such a basic film.
Read on if you want to know more about the best film ever made:


The Basic Plot

Okay the plot isn't that basic to tell but when you watch it it's a lot simpler.
Cameron is a new student at Padua high and falls in love with a sophomore called Bianca. However he's not the only one who likes her, the 'jock' of the school is called Joey and he wants her for himself.

Bianca's sister is the complete opposite of her, Kat doesn't do things that people want her to do. Plus their dad has only two house rules, no dating before they graduate and no dating before they graduate. As you get into the film he changes that to Bianca can date... when Kat does.
Cameron comes up with a plan to help Bianca fall in love with him, get Joey to pay a guy to date Kat so Joey thinks that he can get Bianca, but in reality Cameron wants her all for himself.


My Opinion

Sounds confusing right, but all of you that have watched it will know it's not. It's a funny, very cleverly written and everything just works so well together.

The Actors
Kat Stratford- Julia Stiles
Patrick Verona- Heath Ledger
Bianca Stratford- Larisa Oleynik
Cameron James- Joseph Gordan-Levitt
Joey Donner- Andrew Keegan
Michael Eckman- David Krumholtz
Mandella- Susan May Pratt
Chasity- Gabrielle Union

This film has sat on my shelf for over 8/9 years now and I still watch it whenever I go to a mates house or if i'm bored or something a long the lines of that. The actors in this film are great, the casting guys managed to get 'newbie's' to play their cast, but now quite a few of them managed to make a name for themselves, especially Julia Stiles and of course the late Heath Ledger.

The Taming Of The Shrew
Everyone knows that this film is 'loosely' based on the taming of the shrew by William Shakespeare and the writers have managed to put in quite a few references from the book into the film, here are the comparisons.

1) The sisters in The Taming Of the Shrew are called Katharine and Bianca. In 10 Things they are called Katarina & Bianca.
2) William Shakespeare came from a town called Stratford-Upon-Avon, and the girl's last name is Stratford.
3) In the book Katharine's suitor is Petruchio of Verona, in the film it's Patrick Verona.
4) The high school is called Padua, in the book it's the city of where Shakespeare's play is set.
There are many more comparisons between the book and the film, and as you start to look through them, you'll see that it's not 'loosely' based on the book.


Soundtrack

Letter's To Cleo play an important part throughout the film. It's Kat's favourite band and they appear every now and again.
Music in my opinion is one of the main reasons why this film is so good. There are hundreds of songs, not all placed on the album that appear. My favourite of course, being "Can't Take My Eyes Of You" preformed by the one and only Heath Ledger.


Sonnet 141

In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleased to dote;
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted,
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast* with thee alone*:
But my five wits* nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unsway'd the likeness of a man*,
Thy proud hearts slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin awards me pain.
They have to use that sonnet to come up with their own poem, which Kat entitles 10 Things I Hate About You:

I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair,
I hate the way you drive my car,
I hate it when you stare,
I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind,
I hate you so much it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme,
I hate the way you're always right,
I hate it when you lie,
I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry,
I hate it when you're not around, and the fact you didn't call,
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you, not even a little bit, not even at all.
That's typed out from memory so if anyone finds any mistakes in it please tell me.


Heath Ledger

Couldn't do a review on this film, without mentioning the late Heath Ledger who died back in January, in my opinion THIS was the film that got him none, not the patriot. He didn't even do the Patriot until 3 years after this film, and never did another film like this in his acting career.
He did really steel the film, his acting is fantastic and that smile. Yum. I do prefer him as a blonde but god damn was he a fantastic actor. He'll forever be on my screen.


Annoying Things About the movie!

Why does it seem that all American teens firstly can actually ALL pass their driving test, secondly afford a car, and thirdly in some cases get a gorgeous car that most people wouldn't get in a lifetime.
Things like this pee me off a little bit, I'm waiting to start learning how to drive, and have looked into cars and stuff. With about £500 I can get a little crappy car that will only just get me from A-B, none of them in the film seemed to have jobs, so the question is are all people in America stinking rich and do all American teens get cars and allowance and stuff of their parents?


If you like this you'll like...

She's All That
A Walk To Remember
Clueless

Rating
I am a bit biased as this is my favourite movie, so I'll give it a 10/10.


Extras

This is another annyoing thing about the film actually, the only special features on the DVD are a small amount of bloopers at the end of the film which are covered by the titles and if you watch them closely there is obviously a sceen that's not in the movie, couldn't they have put the blooper reel and a deleted scenes bit on the DVD. I think it would have just made it so much better, maybe even a behind the scenes as well would have been nice.

Anything Else
It's a fantastic movie, chick flick heaven in my opinion. I adore this movie, and will have to be getting a new DVD of it, as my one is all scratched up. It is a sleepover film in my opinion, but we've still made some of our guys mates watch it and only one of them hated it. Worth checking out.

If any of you are planning on going to Stratford, go check out the Royal Shakespeare Company. The acting their is fantastic. I've been a couple of times, and love it. Stratford itself is a bit of a bore, it's lush to have a picnic though. I've lived just around the corner all my life, so have been dragged to shakespeares birthplace so many times.
Thank you for reading, please comment and tell me what you think about the film.

Kirsty
© 2008

Summary: well worth watching, altimate chick flick.