10 Things I Hate About You

Who could forget the film 10 Things I Hate About You? Apparently not the director who’s decided a television remake was in order. I guess that’s what happens when you’re life is reduced to directing episodes of ‘Til Death and Rules Of Engagement.

In all honesty though I am a pretty big fan of 10 Things the movie. It’s got Heath Ledger, it’s got Alex Mack, it’s got Joseph Gordon Lovett, heck it’s got uber-Jewish guy who’s now in Numb3rs, it’s got everything you could ever want in a teen movie. In fact, I would go so far as to say that after The Breakfast Club – 10 Things is the single best teen movie of all time... okay, that’s probably a lie but look how I said it anyway.

10 Things the TV show is NOT 10 Things the movie. There’s no point comparing the cast members of the two versions as the movie trumps the show on every front – even if you don’t like Julia Stiles particularly much you’ll find her train lengths in front of Sister from Aliens In America.

Watching the first episode of 10 Things left me with a bunch of questions:

How come Kat & Bianca have moved to a new school but still manage to bump into guys named Cameron and Patrick Verona? I mean, surely that’s more than a coincidence.

Will the remake of 10 Things prompt a remake of more late 90’s teen movies? Are Can’t Hardly Wait and She’s All That just around the corner?

Why was Patrick Verona (played by Heath Ledger in the movie) so... not a tough looking guy at all? Did his character profile list him as being ‘kind of emo’ or something?

Why was Cameron’s sidekick so short? I like short people. I like short people in funny hats. But I don’t like camera angles that constantly accentuate how short somebody is for no clear purpose. Why would Cameron be friends with someone the camera always has to be peering down at?

Why rope Larry Miller back from the original cast to yet again play the dad? The poor guy has aged ten years while his daughters have stayed the same. It’s going to take a lot of head shaving every episode to keep those gray hairs away.

And finally why wasn’t the show as bad as it should have been nor as good as it should have been?

I can’t recommend it. I can recommend rewatching the movie though, cause that still holds up. For some reason.

Good, Alright, Bad Or Ugly?
Bad