Top Ten

10 Things I Love About 10 Things I Hate 

About You 

John Hughes dominated the teen comedy genre in the 1980s with a plethora of endearing, slightly crude films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Pretty In Pink. Teen comedies continued to enjoy success in the 1990s as the genre moved from sentimental to ironic. Films like Scream and Clueless took a very self-aware look at the teen genre, while other films like She’s All That kept the sentimentality, but lost the edge of Hughes’ work.

One secret gem of the 90s teen comedy genre is 10 Things I Hate About You, directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger as high school outcasts. 10 Things balances ironic comedy with just enough heart to produce a surprisingly satisfying teen romance. To celebrate this underrated film, here are the Ten Things I Love About 10 Things I Hate About You:

10. The Shakespeare References. The movie is loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and the film is littered with references to the Bard. The play’s two sisters, Bianca and Katherina Minola, become Bianca and Kat Stratford (ala Shakespeare’s birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon,) The students attend Padua High School (the city where the play is set). Heath Ledger plays Patrick Verona (who in the play is named Petruchio and comes from Verona). Characters frequently quote sonnets and even the song played at prom, “Cruel to Be Kind”, gets its title from a Hamlet line.  

9. The 90s Clothes. Midriff-baring prom dresses, platform shoes, crop tops and so much gauzy floral fabric. It’s a trip down memory lane to an era of fashion we’d all probably rather forget, but it’s still a little fun to remember.

8. Solid Adult Roles. Any teen comedy is bound to feature a few adults in relatively thankless supporting roles. 10 Things cast a game group of actors as the parents and teachers in the Stratford girls’ lives. Allison Janney (Ms. Perky), Daryl Mitchell (Mr. Morgan) and David Leisure (Coach Chapin) turn in goofy performances that go a long way to fleshing out the world of Padua High. Character actor Larry Miller threatens to steal the movie with a neurotic and, dare I say, nuanced portrayal of a single dad trying to raise two teenage daughters. 

7. The Music. I have to confess, I still have the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack on my iTunes. It’s a fun, eclectic mix of music (with a pinch of ska), and features tunes by Joan Armatrading, Sister Hazel, and Letters to Cleo. The music is mellow and perfectly compliments the film’s laid-back attitude.

6. The Blooper Reel. Are you the kind of person who turns off the TV as soon as the credits start to role? If so, than you may have missed out on this blooper reel which features the cast being both adorable and hilarious.

5. The Decent Script. Alright, it’s not Citizen Kane, but the script is frothy fun with a nice sense of self-awareness. The characters feel fleshed-out, the comedy is genuinely funny, and there are one or two rather poignant scenes that stay on the right side of saccharine.

4. The Solid Central Relationship. While a lot of teen comedies focus on romance, male bonding, and bitchy cliques, the real heart of 10 Things I Hate About You is the relationship between two sisters. Bianca and Kat’s bond feels appropriately antagonistic yet based in love. The girls’ mother is absent (I’ve gotten into arguments with friends about whether she walked out on the family or died, I firmly believe she left by choice) and there’s a nice sense of two teenage girls navigating a new relationship after a big change. There’s also a really lovely scene where Kat explains her descent from popular girl to outcast. It might not pass the Bechdel Test, but it’s nevertheless a nice piece of writing and acting that gives the film more weight than a lot of teen comedies.

3. That Poem. Like many rom coms, there’s not a ton of resolution once the drama is over and it’s time to get the main couple back together. After realizing her date was paid to take her out and ditching him at prom, Kat reads this pseudo-apologetic poem to her English class. It’s a simplistic resolution, but Stiles sells it so well that you almost (almost) don’t notice. Plus according to IMDb trivia: “The scene in which Kat reads the "10 Things" poem was the first and only take, according to the DVD extras. Kat's tears towards the end of the poem were not planned.” Good job Julia.

2. Heath Singing. Some people remember Heath for his intense dramatic work or jumpy personality, but I will always remember him as an adorable Australian serenading a girl’s soccer team.

1. Casting Legit Actors. The real unsung hero of this film is the casting director who had a sixth sense for casting future A-listers. Julia Stiles continued to find success in teen dramas and later onstage and can currently be seen in Silver Linings Playbook. Heath Ledger went on to star in Brokeback Mountain and won a posthumous Oscar for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become a beloved Hollywood presence since his big screen turn in 500 Days of Summer. Compare that resume to other 90s teen comedies like She’s All That or Drive Me Crazy and it’s easy to see what keeps 10 Things I Hate About You entertaining, fourteen years later.