10 Things I Hate About You

Words to that effect can be seen on a wall in one of the classrooms in 10 Things I Hate About You, and it pretty much sums up what the film is all about.

There are two sisters, Bianca, played by Larisa Oleynik, and Kat, played by Julia Stiles. Bianca is popular but inexperienced in the art of dating boys, whereas Kat doesn't want to be popular and isn't interested in dating, or for that matter in anything that everyone else is doing. Kat is the kind of person who would sit facing the projector in a cinema just to be different. She is the Shrew of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, the play upon which the film is based. The plot is complex and centres around the fact that the girls' unhinged father has a rule that Bianca can't date boys until Kat does. Now there are two guys, Cameron and Joey who both want to date Bianca. Cameron is a nice guy, but Joey is one of those guys who thinks he's God's gift to women. Then there's Patrick, who everyone is scared of because he apparently ate a live duck once, and has no liver because he sold it. Joey pays Patrick to date Kat so that he can date Bianca. At the same time Cameron is trying to date Bianca, and she is torn between going out with the nice guy or being seen with Mr. Popularity. When the scary and liverless Patrick approaches the unapproachable Kat, the fun and the taming begins. Is Patrick such a scary guy or is he just misunderstood? Why does Bianca resent Kat so much? Does Patrick really have a liver, and should he be drinking alcohol if he doesn't? And what ARE those 10 things? These questions and more will be answered in this funny, entertaining and interesting film. 10 Things is not just another one of those silly high-school movies, it's a reasonably deep and meaningful character study full of intricate twists, turns and humour. Well, it's based on Shakespeare so what do you expect?

One last thing... this film does not end when the credits start rolling so keep watching till the end.