"Who needs affection when I have blind hatred?"
10 Things I Hate About You follows main characters Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) and Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) through a modern day retelling of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". When Kat's little sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) discovers she is only allowed to date if her sister does so first, her would-be boyfriend Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) decides to take matters into his own hands by hiring Patrick. Patrick is tasked with convincing Kat, the most stone-hearted, shrewd girl in school, to go out with him in exchange for a handsome chunk of change. As you can imagine, this proceeds to blow up in all their faces.
If this film has 1 million fans, I am one of them. If this film has 2 fans, I am one of them. If this film has 0 fans, I am dead. I will take my love for this movie to my grave and beyond. I will say it right off the bat, this film is #1 on my list, and let me tell you why.
First of all, I have never seen a Heath Ledger movie I did not like.
Now that that's out of the way: I love the gestures in this movie. That's what really secured this film's place in my book. The scene where Patrick asks Kat out by singing and dancing on the bleachers made me cringe, but it also made me want to curl up and die in the best way possible. That scene makes me smile like I'm watching one of those funny cat video compilations on YouTube. Also, when Patrick gets Kat's favorite band to play at prom??? That part makes me cry every time.
Normally, I don't enjoy films with the deception plot line, as I always find myself dreading the moment where the victim finds out they've been tricked, but this one was oddly satisfying.
Why would I say that?
The poem scene.
The poem scene where Kat lists the 10 things she hates about Patrick in front of her entire English class after finding out about his scheming the epitome of rom com romance. She's crying through the words, he's holding back tears, the class is uncomfortable, everyone is crying, including myself. The moment these two share during this scene is what this genre is all about. Patrick hurt Kat, but she's still in love with him and she can't deny it any longer. He finally realizes what he's done and what he lost in the process, and the lack of words they share here makes it that much more romantic. I could go on and on about this scene, it is truly one of my all time favorite cinematic moments. (Fun fact: the tears in this scene are unscripted and genuine. Julia Stiles just started crying, which then made Heath Ledger cry as well. Do with that what you will.)
I also want to commend this film for how amazing the buildup was. Kat and Patrick didn't fall in love out of nowhere, we got to watch them grow closer over time. This is a detail I feel a lot of the other rom coms are missing, and this film just does it so unbelievably well. Specifically, the buildup that happens at the beginning and the end of the paintball scene. They go into it not totally trusting each other, not really wanting to be there. By the end, they're sharing their first kiss on a hay bail covered in paint and dirt. What's not to love?
The comedy in this film is subtle, but it's there if you know where to look. That still I included towards the top of Kat reading an absurdly large copy of "The Bell Jar" is one of the funniest parts of this film. I can't say this film has me cackling, but it does make me laugh out loud at the sheer absurdity of some of these characters.
To put it simply, no movie will ever top this one in my book. It has the perfect balance of cringe, cliche, love, and laughter. And it has Heath Ledger. Case closed.
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