10 Reasons to Love "10 Things I Hate About You"

1. Heath Ledger before he broke his back or went crazy.
2. GREAT soundtrack.
3. Unpretentious modernization of Taming of the Shrew.
3. Letters to Cleo!
4. Larry Miller as the dad.
5. Kat's poem.*
6. Intellectual insults: "You're not as vile as I thought you were."
7. Patrick's serenade.
8. Random lines from the play thrown in.
9. Really cool high school.
10. "I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?"


I've always loved Shakespeare. Othello was the first play I read. Romeo and Juliet is usually what high school English teachers go for first, but not mine. She jumped right into the good stuff, and I fell in love. It wasn't so much about Othello or Desdemona or Casio. It was Iago, one of the most dynamic and thrilling villains ever written. I read the other staples, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth. When I got to college, I minored in English, and all but one class was in British Lit. Needless to say, I read a lot of Shakespeare. No one quite brought it to life like Dr. Stillman. Dr. Stillman didn't teach Shakespeare; he performed. I'd put his King Lear up against anyone at the Globe. It was in Dr. Stillman's class that I read my favorite play, The Tempest. I loved exploring the relationship of man and his art vs. nature. Taming of the Shrew gives an intimate look at the interpersonal relationships and the manipulations humans can contrive. In a way, it's sad that it's taken the rash of modernized versions of Shakespeare's works to bring the powerful stories to a broader audience, but I'm glad that more people have gotten to experience the genius of Shakespeare. Of all these movies, 10 Things I Hate About You is my favorite.


* I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme. I hate it, I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you're not around, and the fact that you didn't call. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.