10 Things I Hate About You is one of my all time favorite movies. That’s not to say it’s some masterpiece that should be considered in the same regard as say, The Dark Knight, but it’s definitely a sentimental favorite of mine. It came out in the middle of the golden era of coming of age, teen rom-coms (mid 90s to mid 2000s). The movies in the genre nowadays just don’t have the same charm as movies of that era. This movie perfectly encapsulates the time period. While it feels very 90s, it avoids feeling aged and dated. I feel a wave of nostalgia whenever I watch, but the story still resonates even though it takes place over 20 years ago. Here’s what makes me love this movie.
The first thing I want to mention is the soundtrack. This soundtrack is perfect for the movie, and it does a great job giving the movie a certain feel. The movie has a certain lighthearted, feel good, wholesome aesthetic that the soundtrack really reflects and highlights. Shoutout to the band Letters to Cleo who makes several appearances throughout this movie.
Another thing that makes the movie so good are the characters. The movie format makes it hard in general to establish characters with depth, and rom coms are no different. The characters and the relationships in these movies can feel shallow, which makes it so the viewer can’t form an attachment to the characters in the movie. That being said, every character in the movie was memorable and distinct. The characters all had their own motivations that helped advance the story and led to character development. It also made them more likeable and relatable. The movie somehow managed to fit in multiple, fleshed out characters within this one movie that was less than 2 hours. It’s pretty amazing. Even the side characters had memorable roles. Whether it was the school counselor, Kat’s english teacher, or Kat and Bianca’s dad, all of the side characters maximized their screen time and enhanced the film. The casting also contributes to this. Every character was cast perfectly and fit their role well. A lot of times I find the lead characters in rom coms to be overly corny, cringeworthy, and sometimes just unlikeable, but not this movie. Heath Ledger was outstanding in this movie. He had his breakout performance and the chemistry between him and Julia Stiles was off the charts. It was easy to root for the protagonists and root against the antagonists. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great in his role as the lovable dork that you wanted to see get the girl of his dreams. Andrew Keegan was perfect as the preppy, rich, asshole that you couldn’t help but hate. The characters and the interactions between the characters all felt natural, and unforced. It was a perfect storm.
Of course the most important component of any movie is the story. A lot of rom coms have stories that can at times be full of unbelievable coincidences and plot holes, while also being socially problematic, illogical, and unrealistic to the point that it takes you out of the experience as the viewer. However, 10 Things I Hate About You has no moments that take you out of the experience, and few, if any, plot holes. It’s easy to immerse yourself in the world that this movie tries to establish. The story progresses logically, and concisely. Not giving you a reason to be overly critical of anything that was happening on screen. It also avoided most of the problematic tropes that we associate with rom coms.
As I mentioned before this movie has a lot of different characters with different motivations, Game of Thrones would be proud of the amount of scheming that took place in this movie. But with all that going on, the plot never felt convoluted, the story was always easy to follow. It’s impressive how clearly the viewer can see what each character wants, regardless of the actual on screen dialogue. We can see that Patrick (Heath Ledger) was hired to take out Kat by Joey (Andrew Keegan), but we never doubt that Patrick has genuine feelings for Kat. We never question why Kat would fall for Patrick, or why she would take him back after finding out that he was getting paid to be with her, because the movie did such a good job of establishing the connection between the two. Giving them intimate moments that felt very genuine and authentic. Rom coms are movies driven by emotions and emotional attachment to characters and relationships between characters more so than other genres. Even though we know that Patrick had questionable motives to initially try to date Kat, the story allows us to still develop an attachment to him and a rooting interest in his quest to be with Kat. (Side note: I think the idea that you could trick some pretentious rich kid into giving you money to take out the girl of your dreams is really cool.)
Like any other rom com, this movie can be cheesy and predictable at times, but it’s still something that’s easy to enjoy. I’ve watched it more times than I can count and I still like it as much as the first time that I saw it. The ultimate goal for any form of art is to provoke an emotional response, and I can’t help but feel good whenever I watch this movie. In my opinion this movie is among the best in that particular genre, and one of my favorites of all time.
For more on this movie, watch this YouTube video: Pop Culture Detective is WRONG about “10 Things I Hate About You”
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