10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is a modernization of William Shakespeare's late-16th-century comedy The Taming of the Shrew, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting. In the story, new student Cameron (Gordon-Levitt) is smitten with Bianca (Oleynik) and, in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating, attempts to get bad boy Patrick (Ledger) to date Bianca's ill-tempered sister, Kat (Stiles). The film is titled after a poem written by Kat about her bittersweet romance with Patrick. Much of the filming took place in the Seattle metropolitan area, with many scenes shot at Stadium High School in Tacoma.

For the television series, see 10 Things I Hate About You (TV series).

10 Things I Hate About You
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gil Junger
Produced by	Andrew Lazar
Written by	Karen McCullah Kirsten Smith
Starring	Julia Stiles Heath Ledger Joseph Gordon-Levitt Larisa Oleynik Larry Miller Andrew Keegan David Krumholtz Susan May Pratt
Music by	Richard Gibbs Marc Shaiman (song only)
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Edited by	O. Nicholas Brown
Production company	Touchstone Pictures Mad Chance Jaret Entertainment
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date	March 31, 1999 (1999-03-31)
Running time	99 minutes
Language	English
Budget	US$16 million
Box office	US$53.5 million[1]

Released March 31, 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You was number two at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, behind only The Matrix, and was a moderate financial and critical success. It was a breakthrough role for Stiles, Ledger, and Gordon-Levitt, all of whom were nominated for various teen-oriented awards. Ten years later, the film was adapted into a television series of the same title, which ran for twenty episodes and featured Larry Miller reprising his role as Walter Stratford from the film.

Plot

Cameron James, a new student at Padua High School in the Seattle area, becomes instantly smitten with popular sophomore Bianca Stratford. Geeky Michael Eckman warns him that Bianca is vapid and conceited, and that her overprotective father does not allow Bianca or her older sister, the shrewish Kat, to date. Kat, a senior, is accepted to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, but her father, Walter, wants her to stay close to home. Bianca wishes to date affluent senior Joey Donner, but Walter, an obstetrician worrisome of teenage pregnancy, will not allow his daughters to date until they graduate. Frustrated by Bianca's insistence and Kat's rebelliousness, Walter declares that Bianca may date only when Kat does, knowing that Kat's antisocial attitude makes this unlikely.

When Cameron asks Bianca out, she informs him of her father's new rule and, as a pretense for allowing her to date Joey, suggests that Cameron find someone willing to date Kat. Cameron selects "bad boy" Patrick Verona, but Patrick scares him off. Michael assists by convincing Joey to pay Patrick to take out Kat, under the pretense that this will allow Joey to date Bianca. Patrick agrees to the deal, but Kat rebuffs his first few advances. Michael and Cameron help him by prying Bianca for information on Kat's likes and dislikes. Armed with this knowledge, Patrick begins to win Kat's interest. She goes to a party with him, which enables Bianca to go as well, much to Walter's dismay.

At the party, Kat becomes upset when she sees Bianca with Joey, and responds by getting drunk. Patrick attends to her, and Kat starts to open up, expressing her interest in starting a band. However, when she tries to kiss him, Patrick pulls away and Kat leaves, infuriated. Meanwhile, Bianca ignores Cameron in favor of Joey, leaving Cameron dejected. Bianca soon realizes, however, that Joey is shallow and self-absorbed, and asks Cameron for a ride home. Cameron admits his feelings for her and his frustration with how she has treated him. Bianca responds by kissing him.

Joey offers to pay Patrick to take Kat to the prom so he can take Bianca. Patrick initially refuses, but relents when Joey offers him more money. Kat is still angry with Patrick, but he wins her over by serenading her with the accompaniment of the marching band, and she helps him sneak out of detention. They go on a date which turns romantic, but Kat becomes suspicious and angry when Patrick insists that she go with him to the prom, an event she is adamantly against. Bianca is irritated that Cameron hasn't asked her to the prom, and so accepts Joey's invitation, but Walter won't allow it unless Kat goes too. Kat confesses to Bianca that she dated Joey when they were freshmen and, succumbing to peer pressure, had sex with him. Afterward she regretted it and Joey dumped her, so she vowed to never again do anything just because everyone else was doing it. Bianca insists that she can make her own choices, so Kat agrees to go to the prom with Patrick, and Bianca decides to go with Cameron instead of Joey.

All is going well at the prom until Bianca learns that Joey planned to have sex with her that night. Angry that Bianca has spurned him for Cameron, Joey reveals his arrangement with Patrick, which causes Kat to leave heartbroken. Joey then punches Cameron, but is in turn beaten up by Bianca for having hurt her, Kat, and Cameron. Bianca and Cameron share another kiss.

The next day, Bianca reconciles with Kat and begins dating Cameron. Walter admits that Kat is capable of taking care of herself, and gives her permission to attend Sarah Lawrence College. For an assignment in which the students were required to write their own version of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 141, Kat reads aloud a poem titled "10 Things I Hate About You", revealing that she still loves Patrick. Patrick surprises her with a guitar bought with the money that Joey paid him, and confesses that he has fallen for her. Kat forgives him, and the two reconcile with a kiss.

Cast

• Julia Stiles as Katarina "Kat" Stratford, the antisocial, shrewish elder Stratford sister.
• Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona, the "bad boy" who is hired to date Kat and falls for her in the process.
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James, the new student at Padua High School who is smitten with Bianca and goes to great lengths to win her favor.
• Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford, the younger of the two Stratford sisters, superficial and popular.
• Larry Miller as Walter Stratford, an obstetrician and single parent who is overprotective of his daughters, Kat and Bianca.
• Andrew Keegan as Joey Donner, an affluent, self-absorbed high school senior and aspiring model who intends to have sex with Bianca, and to that end pays Patrick to date Kat.
• David Krumholtz as Michael Eckman, a geek who assists Cameron in his quest to woo Bianca, and in the process tries to woo Kat's friend Mandella.
• Susan May Pratt as Mandella, Kat's only close friend and an aficionado of William Shakespeare, who ends up going to the prom with Michael.
• Gabrielle Union as Chastity Church, Bianca's best friend, who betrays Bianca by going out with Joey when Bianca spurns him.
• Daryl Mitchell as Mr. Morgan, teacher of Kat, Patrick, and Joey's English class.
• Allison Janney as Ms. Perky, Padua High School's guidance counselor and a writer of erotic literature.
• David Leisure as Mr. Chapin, coach of the girls' soccer team.
• Greg Jackson as "Scurvy", a friend of Patrick.
• Kyle Cease as Bogey Lowenstein, a golf enthusiast and member of a clique of aspiring MBAs.
• The band Letters to Cleo (singer Kay Hanley, guitarists Greg McKenna and Michael Eisenstein, bassist Scott Riebling, and drummer Jason Sutter) appears as the band performing at Club Skunk, playing their songs "Come On" and "Co-Pilot", and playing a cover version of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" on the school's rooftop during the closing credits. Hanley and Eisenstein also appear in the prom scene, performing a cover of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" with Save Ferris.
• The band Save Ferris (singer Monique Powell, guitarist Brian Mashburn, bassist Bill Uechi, trumpeter José Castellaños, trombonist Brian Williams, saxophonist Eric Zamora, and drummer Evan Kilbourne) appears as the band performing at the prom, playing their songs "I Know" and "Can't Stop" as well as covers of The Isley Brothers' "Shout" and Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind".

Production

The original script for the film was finalized in November 1997.[2] Many of the scenes were filmed on location at Stadium High School and at a house in the Proctor District of Tacoma, Washington. The prom sequence was shot over three days in Seattle.[3] Costume designer Kim Tillman designed original dresses for Larisa Oleynik and Julia Stiles, as well as the period outfits for Susan May Pratt and David Krumholtz. Gabrielle Union's snakeskin prom dress is a Betsey Johnson design. Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's vintage tuxes came from Isadora's in Seattle.[3]

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed US$8,330,681 in 2,271 theaters in the United States and Canada, averaging $3,668 per venue, and ranking number two at the box office (behind The Matrix). It grossed a total of $38,178,166 in the United States and Canada and $15,300,000 in other territories, about $53,500,000 worldwide. The film had an estimated budget of $16 million and is considered a moderate financial and critical success. On October 12, 1999, the Region 1 DVD was released. In the box office, the film is ranked tenth in teen romance, 18th in high school comedies, and 96th in comedies.[4]

Critical response

The film received generally positive feedback from critics. Geoff Andrew from Time Out praised the film's leads, stating, "Stiles grows into her character, and Ledger is effortlessly charming".[5] Brad Laidman from Film Threat said the film was "pure of heart and perfectly executed".[6] Ron Wells, another critic from Film Threat, expressed, "Of all the teen films released this year, this one is, by far, the best."[7] Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying that he "liked the movie's spirit, the actors and some of the scenes. The music, much of it by the band Letters to Cleo, is subtle and inventive while still cheerful."[8] Entertainment Weekly listed the film at #49 on its list of Best High School Movies.[9]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 69% approval score from critics based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 6.21/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger add strong performances to an unexpectedly clever script, elevating 10 Things (slightly) above typical teen fare."[10]Metacritic gave the film a score of 70 based on 26 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11]

Accolades

10 Things I Hate About You provided breakthrough roles for stars Stiles, Ledger, and Gordon-Levitt.[12][13][14] Gordon-Levitt, Stiles, and Oleynik each received Young Star Award nominations for Best Actor/Actress in a Comedy Film. The movie was nominated for seven Teen Choice Awards: Choice Movie: Breakout Star (Stiles), Choice Movie: Comedy, Choice Movie: Funniest Scene (featuring Krumholtz), Choice Movie: Love Scene (featuring Stiles and Ledger), Choice Movie: Hissy Fit (Gordon-Levitt), Choice Movie: Villain (Andrew Keegan) and Choice Movie: Soundtrack. The film's casting directors Marcia Ross and Donna Morong won "Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy" at the Casting Society of America in 1999. In 2000, Stiles won the CFCA Award for "Most Promising Actress" for her role as Kat Stratford (tied with Émilie Dequenne in Rosetta) and an MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance. The same year, Ledger was nominated for Best Musical Performance for the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album, featuring Letters to Cleo performing cover versions of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" and Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind", stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for seven weeks, peaking at no. 52.[15][16] Reviewer S. Peeples of AllMusic rated it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "one of the best modern rock soundtracks of the spring 1999 season".[17]

10 Things I Hate About You
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	April 6, 1999 (1999-04-06)
Genre	Alternative rock, ska, pop, funk
Label	Hollywood

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer	Length
1.	"I Want You to Want Me" (originally performed by Cheap Trick)	Rick Nielsen	Letters to Cleo	3:25
2.	"F.N.T." (from Great Divide, 1996)	Dan Wilson, Jacob Slichter	Semisonic	3:29
3.	"I Know" (contains an interpretation of "Shout", written by O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, and Rudolph Isley and originally performed by The Isley Brothers)	Michael Holton, Miré Molner, Brian Mashburn	Save Ferris	2:52
4.	"Your Winter" (from Fortress, 2000)	Ken Block, Jett Beres, Andrew Copeland, Ryan Newell, Mark Trojanowski, Bill Smith	Sister Hazel	4:39
5.	"Even Angels Fall" (from Key of a Minor, 2000)	Tom Whitlock, Jessica Riddle, Kim Bullard, Penny Framstad	Jessica Riddle	3:27
6.	"New World" (from Leroy, 2001)	Leroy Miller	Leroy	3:02
7.	"Saturday Night"	Rodney Jerkins, Marti Sharron, Dan Sembello	Ta-Gana	4:26
8.	"Atomic Dog" (from Computer Games, 1982)	George Clinton, Garry Shider, David Spradley	George Clinton	4:44
9.	"Dazz" (from Good High, 1976)	Ray Ransom, Edward Irons, Reginald Hargis	Brick	3:24
10.	"The Weakness in Me" (from Walk Under Ladders, 1981)	Joan Armatrading	Joan Armatrading	3:32
11.	"War" (from "My Favourite Game", 1998)	Peter Svensson, Nina Persson	The Cardigans	3:57
12.	"Wings of a Dove" (1983)	Carl Smyth, Graham McPherson	Madness	3:00
13.	"Cruel to Be Kind" (originally performed by Nick Lowe)	Nick Lowe, Ian Gomm	Letters to Cleo	3:01
14.	"One More Thing"	Richard Gibbs	Richard Gibbs	3:01
Total length:				49:59

Adaptations

In June 1999, the Scholastic Corporation published a novelization of the story, adapted by David Levithan.[18] The story is retold as it is in the film with each chapter written from the point of view of either Bianca, Cameron, Kat, Patrick, or Michael.

In October 2008, ABC Family ordered a pilot episode of 10 Things I Hate About You, a half-hour, single-camera comedy series based on the feature film of the same name. Larry Miller is the only actor from the film to reprise his role in the television series. The director of the film, Gil Junger, directed many of the episodes including the pilot while the film's music composer, Richard Gibbs, also returned to do the show's music. The series was adapted and produced by Carter Covington.[19] The show premiered on July 7, 2009,[20] and ended on May 24, 2010, lasting only 20 episodes.

References

1. 10 Things I Hate About You at Box Office Mojo
2. "Internet Movie Script Database". Imsdb.com. November 12, 1997. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
3. Write-up on CinemaReview.com. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
4. "10 Things I Hate About You (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
5. "10 Things I Hate About You Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out New York". Archived from the original on July 22, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
6. "10 Things I Hate About You". Film Threat. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
7. "Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies". Film Threat. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
8. Ebert, Roger. "10 Things I Hate About You". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
9. EW Staff (September 22, 2012). "50 Best High School Movies | Photo 1 of 50". EW.com. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
10. "10 Things I Hate About You (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
11. "10 Things I Hate About You". Metacritic.
12. Aames, Ethan. "Julia Stiles on "The Omen"". Cinema Confidential News. June 5, 2006. Retrieved on October 28, 2006.
13. Eisenbach, Helen. "10 Thing We Love About Julia Stiles". Manhattan File Magazine. January 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
14. Maher, Kevin. "Heath Ledger- The Accidental Hero". Times Sunday Magazine. October 14, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
15. "The Billboard 200". United States. May 1, 1999. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
16. "The Billboard 200". United States. September 9, 1999. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
17. Peeples, S. 10 Things I Hate About You review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2018-02-18.
18. 10 Things I Hate About You. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 0439087309.
19. Nguyen, Hanh. "ABC Family Greenlights '10 Things I Hate,' 'Ruby' Pilots". Zap2it.com. October 8, 2008. Retrieved on October 8, 2008.
20. "ABC Family: 10 Things I Hate About You". Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2009.

External links

• 10 Things I Hate About You on IMDb
• 10 Things I Hate About You at the TCM Movie Database
• 10 Things I Hate About You at AllMovie