available for rental - october 12 , 1999 10 things i hate about you is an update of the classic play , the taming of the shrew . that said , drop any pre-conceived notions of what shakespeare's work is supposed to be like and welcome yourself to padua high school , home of a student counselor ( allison janney ) who obsesses over the male penis ; a slightly too hip and racist african-american english teacher ( daryl mitchell ) ; a new kid named cameron ( joseph gordon-levitt ) ; a model named joey ( andrew keegan ) , the subject of cameron and joey's crushes ; bianca ( larisa oleynik ) ; and bianca's sister - the shrew ( julia stiles in a marvelous performance ) - whose name is katarina , kat for short . with movies about high schools similar to these running through projectors like water down the nile , it would be quite easy to write off 10 things i hate about you as just another doltish comedic-romance . yet , you must realize that the story is timeless , and a few hundred years later it is equally as witty and comical as when elizabeth gleefully looked on , groundlings below and stuffed brassieres on stage . the first reminder of the original scribe can be found in katarina and bianca's last name : stratford . their family is run by walter stratford ( pretty woman's larry miller ) , a doctor who is all too familiar with teenage pregnancy and guards his children accordingly . in what he thinks to be a moment of ironic humor , the family " no dating " policy is amended to " bianca can date . . . when [katarina] does . " with prom just ahead , bianca's fate is grim ; unless , of course , she can tame the shrew . don't think this mission to be a simple one , as bianca kindly points out , her sister " . . . is a particularly hideous breed of loser . " getting katarina to date is complex and oftentimes confusing . when cameron , who likes bianca , learns of her father's new rule , he is quick to consult a friend for advice . the scheme they dream up is to fully exploit " someone with money . " in this case , that is joey - the other guy with a crush on bianca . cameron's friend , a loser by teenage verdict , convinces joey to pay someone who has enough guts to take the shrew out . the solution lies no farther away than the second blatant reminder of the master scribe : patrick verona ( heath ledger ) . this verona is far from fair ; rumor has it that he previously laid his scene in prison . moreover , katarina openly opined to the aforementioned english teacher that " hemingway was an alcoholic who hung around picasso , hoping to nail his leftovers . " the laws of high school cinema inexorably turn patrick and katarina into romeo and juliet . providing a constant reminder of the fact that this isn't exactly what shakespeare had in mind are the elements obligatory to a high school comedy : a party polluted with liquor , a best friend's betrayal , and prom . it is the latter that has become infamous for closing films like drive me crazy , american pie , never been kissed , carrie , she's all that , and can't hardly wait . yet surely even these practices have roots in shakespeare ; falstaff was a drunk , romeo and juliet met at a party , and caesar learned about loyalty the hard way .
