10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 teen rom-com directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, Larry Miller, Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, and Susan May Pratt. The film is a modernized adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, set at a high school.
Synopsis[]
Bianca Stratford is not allowed to date, until her father changes his mind on one condition: her shrewish older sister Kat must also date at the same time. Cameron James and Joey Donner are both in love with Bianca, but learn of the situation involving her and her sister. With some prodding, the bad boy Patrick Verona is chosen to date Kat, leading to a comedy of errors among the group.
Plot[]
At Padua High School, new student Cameron James is enrolled by the aloof and fittingly named Ms. Perky. She sets him up with Michael Eckman who shows him around the school and all the various cliques and groups that make up the rather eccentric premises. Cameron immediately falls for Bianca Stratford, a cute yet vain girl who is infamously not allowed to date anyone due to her conservative gynecologist father Walter. Other students at the school include the Australian born Patrick Verona who has gained a reputation for being an enigmatic bad boy, Joey Donner, a conceited young model who also vies for Bianca, and Bianca's sister Kat (the main reason for her not dating) who displays a very liberal and cynical view on everything.
Walter has made it very clear that his reason for not wanting his daughters to date is so that they don't have a unwed teenage pregnancy, though Kat knows it is actually due to their mother leaving and him having lost control of his life. This is made all the more obvious when Kat is accepted into Sarah Lawrence College, against Walter's wishes of her going to University of Washington. He finally decides to allow Bianca to date on one condition: Kat must also date at the same time. As Kat is known for her shrewish personality, Bianca is still upset as no one will date her.
To get close to Bianca, Cameron pretends to be a French tutor and tries to ask her out, despite her showing interest in Joey previously. Bianca reveals the new rule her father has enacted and Cameron teams up with Michael to try and get someone to go out with Kat, though all the guys they ask are put off by her. They eventually settle on Patrick, even though he is known for being a reckless young man. They resort to convincing Joey to get Patrick to date Kat, using his interest in Bianca, and knowing that he has money to spare. Joey reluctantly agrees and pays off Patrick.
Patrick attempts to court Kat, who is put off by his behavior and habits, such as his smoking. After Kat damages Joey's car, Patrick manages to finagle more money from him. Cameron confides in Bianca their plan and she decides to give him information about her sister, including the fact that she wears black underwear. Cameron and Michael give Patrick this information and he slowly convinces her to attend a party being thrown by mutual acquaintance Bogey Lowenstein.
At the party, Kat sees Bianca with Joey and becomes upset, drinking and dancing the night away. Bianca begins to see that Joey is conceited and quietly leaves him. She eyes Cameron, but becomes too embarrassed. Patrick begins looking for Kat and carries her out of the party when she hits her head. When Cameron attempts to tell Patrick that the deal is off, he turns him around and tells him to keep fighting for what he thinks is worth it all. Cameron reproaches Bianca who is happy to leave with him while Patrick takes an inebriated Kat home. Patrick finds himself falling for Kat for real and the two open up to each other. When Kat attempts to kiss Patrick, he rebuffs her, upsetting her in the process. Cameron drops Bianca off and unloads on her conceited behavior where she finally kisses him.
At school the next day, Kat becomes the talk of the town. When her literary teacher Mr. Morgan gives a homework assignment to modernize a Shakespeare sonnet, Kat openly embraces the project, shocking everyone. Joey, in an effort to get back with Bianca, pays off Patrick more money to ask Kat out again. Kat, who is still mad, refuses to have anything to do with him, until Cameron and Michael suggest that he humiliate himself. Patrick performs "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" publicly and gets himself detention, however Kat sneaks him out after she flashes the teacher. The two start to legitimately fall for one another, though Kat becomes suspicious of his intentions, much to his annoyance.
When Bianca becomes annoyed at Cameron when he fails to ask her out to the prom, she goes back to Joey, which upsets Walter. Michael ends up having better luck with Kat's friend Mandella by embracing her love for Shakespeare. Bianca scolds Kat for her indifference towards dating boys and she finally tells her the truth. Kat used to date Joey for about month and they even went so far as to sleep together. When she decided to stop because she wasn't ready, Joey angrily broke up with her. Since then, Kat became rebellious towards common conceptions of relationships as a way of "protecting" Bianca. The sisters make up with Kat deciding to go with Patrick and Bianca going back to Cameron.
As the groups head to prom, Joey arrives at the Stratford house where he learns what happened. While in the bathroom at the prom, Bianca learns from her ex-friend Chastity that Joey was truly only interested in sleeping with her, upsetting her. Joey confronts Patrick and inadvertently reveals he was paying him off in front of Kat, who leaves in tears. Joey then goes after Cameron and Michael, but a livid Bianca punches him in the face and kicks him in the crotch (referencing something Kat had done to another boy).
Cameron and Bianca continue their relationship while Kat recovers from prom. Walter is impressed to learn that Bianca stood up for herself before revealing that he has decided to let Kat attend Sarah Lawrence after all. At school, Kat delivers her homework, listed as ten things she hated about Patrick, though revealing that she was still in love with him. As she heads back to her car, she learns that Patrick used the money that Joey gave him to buy her a new guitar (she wanted to start a band). Patrick and Kat embrace, reaffirming their relationship as Letters to Cleo plays on the roof of their school.
Cast[]
- Julia Stiles as Katarina "Kat" Stratford, based on Katherina "Kate" Minola
- Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona, based on Petruchio
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James, based on Lucentio
- Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford, based on Bianca Minola
- Larry Miller as Walter Stratford, based on Baptista Minola
- Andrew Keegan as Joey Donner, based on Hortensio and Gremio
- David Krumholtz as Michael Eckman, based on Biondello
- Susan May Pratt as Mandella
- Gabrielle Union as Chastity Church
- Daryl "Chill" Mitchell as Mr. Morgan
- Allison Janney as Ms. Perky
- David Leisure as Mr. Chapin
- Greg Jackson as "Scurvy"
- Kyle Cease as Bogey Lowenstein
- Save Ferris as Themselves
- Letters to Cleo as Themselves
Trivia[]
- This was Heath Ledger's first American film. Additionally, he beat out Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher for the part of Patrick Verona.
- Eliza Dushku, Katie Holmes, and Kate Hudson were considered for Kate Stratford. In Hudson's case, her mother, Goldie Hawn, turned it down for her because she didn't like the script.
- The title came from screenwriter Karen McCullah's high school diary.
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Larisa Oleynik also played a couple on the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun. Ironically, the two were said to not get along.
- Julia Stiles auditioned for the part of Bianca while Larisa Oleynik really wanted Kat. In the end, they both got each other's parts.
- Director Gil Junger has a scene as a teacher, but it ended up getting cut.
Video[]
Television adaptation[]
A television adaptation aired on Freeform, formally ABC Family. It ran for one season with 20 episodes, from July 7, 2009 to May 24, 2010. Miller was the only actor from the film to reprise his role, while Stiles, Oleynik, Ledger, Gordon-Levitt, Krumholtz, Union, and Keegan were replaced with Lindsey Shaw, Meaghan Martin, Ethan Peck, Nicholas Braun, Kyle Kaplan, Dana Davis, and Chris Zylka, respectively.
