10 Things I Hate About You (1999) – 3/5

A bit generic and predictable at times, but the charming young cast makes it work

The following three fairly short paragraphs are my review for this movie from December 2016:

„10 Things I Hate About You“ is an American movie from 1999, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary. The director is Gil Junger and the two writers are Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith. For the trio, this is probably their most known work, even if „Legally Blonde“ is nothing too shabby either. The story in this 1999 movie is also connected to a Shakespeare work. Anyway, looking at the cast, this film we have here is also for them a contender for most known work, except for Ledger perhaps where it’s gotta be the late actor’s Oscar-winning work. But it is especially true for Stiles and Oleynik and probably also for Allison Janney and Larry Miller who I recognized. I myself really loved to see Larisa Oleynik in here as I have been a big Alex Mack fan for a long time. I don’t mind Stiles at all, but there’s no way she’d have gotten my preference over Oleynik’s character. I’m with JGL on this one. It still makes me a bit sad to see her career peak at that point already. That’s how much I like her.

This over 90-minute film is a bit of cult classic now and even younger generations still know it, even if some of them have not even been alive when it came out. I cannot really see why though. The characters are not really written with a whole lot of depth and they are either 100% good guys or bad guys. And with „good guys“, I am referring to all the 4 people at the center of the film. Maybe the film’s popularity comes a bit from the fact how cool and likable they all are, even if they may be very different. And then there is the romance aspect of course and I can see all these girls falling for Ledger’s character the way he fell for Stiles‘. The story sadly is nothing too amazing either and the character transformations all feel a bit for the sake of it and not really that authentic. But I don’t blame them. I guess they did what they had to do to get this movie into all kinds of teenage hearts and in many of these, it has its safe place until today.

This is really the epitome of a generic, yet charming, teenage-oriented movie that is a mix of comedy (sometimes working well, sometimes not at all), romance, drama, coming-of-age and relationships between teenagers and parents that most audience members could really relate to as they’ve been through similar scenarios themselves already. All in all, to me the most memorable aspects were probably the three protagonists and JGL to a lesser extent, but also because of how generic and forgettable he was written. It is a bit of an omission how the story of his and Oleynik’s character moved further and further to the background the longer the film went as all the focus is on the other soon-to-be couple. And yes it is a very predictable film. If there was anything ever in doubt, then maybe only who would get together with whom and maybe JGL’s character possibly getting together with Stiles eventually because the story starts with him. I did not like the way the film speaks negatively about Oleynik’s character on several occasions. She is not promiscuous or so, just a regular teenage girl and you can’t blame her (not even you, Heath) for being such a different person than her sister. She is what 95% of girls are. But she still stands out just like every one of these 95% do because everybody is a unique individual. I would not call this one a unique film (or on the level of „Mean Girls“,) but it is still a relatively good work overall and definitely worth seeing once. I give it a thumbs-up and suggest you check it out.

Not too long ago I got to give this film a rewatch now as it was shown on the big screen again on a one-time occasion and well what can I say the room was as packed as it gets. Easily a triple-digit amount of people in there and that was nice to see and should encourage film theaters in the future too to keep showing old famous films like this one here. I will just do a little brainstorming now about the things and aspects that caught my attention this time and overall I would say that I still see things similar compared to back then when I wrote the original review and I also still stay with my rating of 3/5 our 6/10. I was surely crushing hard on Oleynik back then and I still am, but I still see Stiles in a more positive light this time or I should maybe say that I saw her character in a more positive light. I would also say that maybe I was a bit too harsh on JGL here overall. The performance was alright and the character not unlikable. Honestly, he was probably more likable than Ledger’s. But even now in 2023, it is still the case that Ledger is/was the only one from the bunch who really managed a big breakthrough on the awards scale and then probably JGL and finally the two girls. Haven’t heard much from JGL either in the last few years though. Surprises me a bit. There was a time when he seemed like a safe bet for an Oscar nomination to happen one day, but oh well if Jonah Hill can get two, then there is always a chance for it to happen, even if a bit delayed. One aspect I did not mention in my original review is that there was indeed a third love story, even if it was just really minor and this of course included the best friend of JGL’s character and the girl he is going for who seems a friend of Oleynik’s character and who also has a bit of a bizarre fetish, so he knows exactly how to win her heart. Speaking of Oleynik’s character’s friend, the one she initially hangs out with the most turns even into a bit of a secondary antagonist here. I did not remember this from the original screening I have to admit. But then again I did not remember a lot at all to be honest, not even where I saw it back then. Oh well, quite a few years have passed. I do wonder though whether, if this film got (re)made today, they would cast a Black actress again for this role. So far it has come already with political correctness.

I state earlier that none of the young fellas (except Ledger) really made it big since then, but this surely cannot be said about Allison Janney. I mean her character has not a lot of screen time here, but she was surely memorable nonetheless and now she is an Oscar winner who also dominated the small screen awards shows for some time. Good for her. Her name is already hilarious enough, almost funnier than what she does in here honestly. It was entertaining too though, especially the bratwurst correction moment. I still wonder how Stiles‘ character knows what she is really doing there. She must have found out about it before the movie somehow. Maybe just a bit of a clumsy attempt to depict said character as being on the smart side. These supporting folks from the school all brought great comedic value. This includes the Black teacher too. The actor’s name is Daryl Mitchell and I find it disappointing to see how he has not really had a breakthrough (yet?). At least I am not familiar with him. Interesting though that his character’s name here is Mr. Morgan as this was way before „30 Rock“. And then there is Larry Miller. I know I mentioned him already in the original review, but I definitely have to do it again. I am baffed myself how well I remember the man from „Boston Legal“, even if he was really not in too many episodes, but in this film here he was just laugh-out-loud funny. I could cite every single scene he was in basically as his (admittedly comedic) portrayal of a caring parent was just something else. I would honestly watch a film about this character alone now and how his daughters are doing almost 25 years later. Oh boy, how time flies. Who knows, they have been returning to some classics now for a while, so perhaps there is the chance for a sequel after all these years. There it may help that none of the core actors that are still with us (except Janney) made it really big.

You see though that I still don’t give it a super high rating, so I will elaborate on a few things too that were a bit of a downside for me. For example, I still wonder why the film is called like this, where the reference lies there. I do not see it with Shakespeare’s „The Taming of the Shrew“ and I also don’t see it with the script and plot from the film we have here. Oh well. It is not a major criticism admittedly, but it left me a bit confused nonetheless. A scene I did not like, especially because it was also a bit of a powerful moment, was the pep talk Ledger’s character gave JGL’s. In theory, there was nothing wrong with it and it also could have made sense, but the problem there clearly is that these two boys did not have any connection with each other whatsoever before that I think. They weren’t friends and they hardly knew each other. It felt only included to show us that they are both good guys and we should like them. I wish it would have been left out. On the more positive side, one funny inclusion were the bloopers of making-of footage we saw right before the closing credits. I appreciated it and more films should have something like that, especially comedy films. Of course, a director or actor commentary for the entire film (like with „A Walk to Remember“ is still the highest goal. As the character limit is getting closer, just a few final words on the people who made this: For director Junger, this was a very rare occasion where he also worked on the screenplay. I am baffled to see he has never made another film that became at least half as famous as this one. Maybe he should write more screenplays. He also directed only for one project after 2016, but his early television work got him an Emmy nomination, which maybe also helped in getting to direct this film. McCullah has not worked on films in the last 10 years, but has several upcoming projects and with Smith things look similar. The two seem to reunite for „Legally Blonde 3“ even. And well, Mr. Shakespeare is closer to 2,000 credits than to 1,000. That says it all. Thumbs-up for this film here.