10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
YOUR APRIL 2006 RMC II RESULTS ARE IN!
Tagline: How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways?
Over two decades ago, Martin Scorsese (don't spell his name wrong, he hates that), between directing AFTER HOURS (way underrated) and THE COLOR OF MONEY (way overrated), directed an episode of the horror/fantasy anthology AMAZING STORIES. And...it was crap. Written by either Joe Minion (screen credit) or Steven Spielberg (IMDb credit), it's the story of a horror writer who is haunted by a man in a mask (supposedly Tim Robbins), but only when he looks in a mirror. Cool premise, if something happened. And the 22 minutes didn't exactly fly by. And the twist at the end was cheap. But the show did have Glenn Scarpelli in a bit part, so it was worth it.
Among the recent spate of Shakespeare in disguise movies (SCOTLAND PA, O, SHE'S THE MAN) is the by the numbers, yet sweet teen comedy 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, a modern day TAMING OF THE SHREWETTE. Julia Stiles, in her most high profile role, stars as Kat Stratford, the tempestuous Belljar-reading older sister of Bianca (Larisa Oleynik, TV's Alex Mack). Both attending Padua High, Bianca wants to date Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy on TV's 3RD ROCK). Their uberprotective dad, played with comedy perfection by Larry Miller, comes up with a compromise; knowing full well that Kat wants no part of the dating world, Bianca can date...(wait for it)...when Kat does.
So Cameron and his sidekick Michael (David Krumholtz, Charlie on TV's NUMB3RS) conspire to get a date for Kat so that Cameron can date Bianca. Of course, no one will go out with Kat. So they pay the scary guy (pre-gay cowboy Heath Ledger). Prithee, so the pre-gay cowboy doth fall for Kat in true.
Here are some things that play out to the wall to wall soundtrack- a cameo from David Leisure, an entr'acte song sung by Ledger (for Kat's benefit) in front of the whole school, later to be parodied in NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, Kat showing her tits (to a teacher, not us), Larry Miller losing his large exercise rubber band (my favorite gag in the movie), and the worst looping ever done- when Michael crashes his motorcycle down a hill and yells out, "My balls!" My favorite line? The bell rings at a preppy guy's house and as he goes to answer it, he turns to his friends and says, "That must be Nigel with the brie."
Directed by super prolific TV director Gil Junger (his first feature, and his last- he went back to TV) and written by the LEGALLY BLONDE duo, 10TIHAY is a gem of a teen comedy. Not John Hughes, but certainly not a throwaway. This movie got a little lost in 1999, when teen comedies were all that.
A while ago at RMC we saw TAMING OF THE SHREW, and now 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (they almost rhyme, get it?). Can KISS ME KATE be far?
Tagline: How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways?
Over two decades ago, Martin Scorsese (don't spell his name wrong, he hates that), between directing AFTER HOURS (way underrated) and THE COLOR OF MONEY (way overrated), directed an episode of the horror/fantasy anthology AMAZING STORIES. And...it was crap. Written by either Joe Minion (screen credit) or Steven Spielberg (IMDb credit), it's the story of a horror writer who is haunted by a man in a mask (supposedly Tim Robbins), but only when he looks in a mirror. Cool premise, if something happened. And the 22 minutes didn't exactly fly by. And the twist at the end was cheap. But the show did have Glenn Scarpelli in a bit part, so it was worth it.
Among the recent spate of Shakespeare in disguise movies (SCOTLAND PA, O, SHE'S THE MAN) is the by the numbers, yet sweet teen comedy 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, a modern day TAMING OF THE SHREWETTE. Julia Stiles, in her most high profile role, stars as Kat Stratford, the tempestuous Belljar-reading older sister of Bianca (Larisa Oleynik, TV's Alex Mack). Both attending Padua High, Bianca wants to date Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy on TV's 3RD ROCK). Their uberprotective dad, played with comedy perfection by Larry Miller, comes up with a compromise; knowing full well that Kat wants no part of the dating world, Bianca can date...(wait for it)...when Kat does.
So Cameron and his sidekick Michael (David Krumholtz, Charlie on TV's NUMB3RS) conspire to get a date for Kat so that Cameron can date Bianca. Of course, no one will go out with Kat. So they pay the scary guy (pre-gay cowboy Heath Ledger). Prithee, so the pre-gay cowboy doth fall for Kat in true.
Here are some things that play out to the wall to wall soundtrack- a cameo from David Leisure, an entr'acte song sung by Ledger (for Kat's benefit) in front of the whole school, later to be parodied in NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, Kat showing her tits (to a teacher, not us), Larry Miller losing his large exercise rubber band (my favorite gag in the movie), and the worst looping ever done- when Michael crashes his motorcycle down a hill and yells out, "My balls!" My favorite line? The bell rings at a preppy guy's house and as he goes to answer it, he turns to his friends and says, "That must be Nigel with the brie."
Directed by super prolific TV director Gil Junger (his first feature, and his last- he went back to TV) and written by the LEGALLY BLONDE duo, 10TIHAY is a gem of a teen comedy. Not John Hughes, but certainly not a throwaway. This movie got a little lost in 1999, when teen comedies were all that.
A while ago at RMC we saw TAMING OF THE SHREW, and now 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (they almost rhyme, get it?). Can KISS ME KATE be far?
Tags: random movie club, 10 things i hate about you, julia stiles, amazing stories, martin scorsese
