MYST #2: 10 Things I hate About You

With the stresses of college applications, I was looking for a movie that would entertain me enough to keep my mind completely off of my impending work for a couple hours. I had heard about 10 Things I Hate About You several times in the past couple of years, especially when the TV show based off of it aired for a short time on ABC Family, so when it popped up in OnDemand, I decided to give it a shot.

The movie follows new-student Cameron in his attempt to date Bianca Stratford. One of the many problems with this is that Bianca cannot date-that is until her protective dad says that she can go on dates whenever her sister Kat does. Bad boy Patrick Verona then comes in as the guy who gets paid to go out with Kat, because she is known around school as a "Heinous bitch" that no one would ever think about dating, but she has no idea about his deal as they truly begin to fall for each other. Both Cameron and Patrick will do almost anything to be with their girls, who learn to have each other's backs through all of the boy chaos.

I knew there would be many familiar faces as I started the movie, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the only face I could actually put a name to. Now having done some research, I know that Julia Stiles played Kat with the late Heath Ledger at her side as Patrick. A couple more recognizable faces make their appearances, like the main elf from Santa Clause (David Krumholtz) and the principle from Max Keeble's Big Move (Larry Miller). Although I couldn't remember their names, having seen Stiles in The Price and Me, Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Gordon-Levitt in Brick (and 500 Days of Summer), I was expecting a good story and film.

The movie did not fail me, but it did not wow me either. Besides the unavoidable 90s clothing, a stand out element of the film was the use of continuity editing and the 180 degree rule. I know that continuity editing is supposed to be unnoticeable, but once I noticed it once, I decided to try to take a mental note when it happened again. 10 Things I Hate About You did a nice job at keeping a nice flow in the scenes. The film failed to bring much else to the table as far as unique technique or style-as far as I could notice anyway. I find this to be true with a lot of teen films, but gosh I still enjoy 'em anyway.

As Pat and Kat got to know each other, I found a key scene for both their relationship and the movie was after one of their dates. First the camera moves along in front of them as they walk from a car over and up to a porch where they sit down. While doing so they are asking each other about secrets, but the real magic is the smooth moving camera that stops moving when they sit down on some steps. We get a few shots from different angles and close-ups, but it maintains the 180 rule from the porch looking out at the pair on the steps. If this rule was not utilized, it would have being too much commotion in edition to what turns into a heavy conversation about Patrick's motivations. 

Like I said, this movie did not blow me away (and it apparently did not do much for the critics). I am glad I checked it off my list and it had some nice messages, like about how people can surprise you, and to be nice to people whether you find them attractive or not. It was not your typical boy meets girl movie and for that I give this movie 3/5 stars, or only 2 stars worth hating about it.