Ep 31: 10 Things I Hate About You

A perfect (Jenny), near perfect (Lucy) romantic comedy with stellar characterization and music that is integral to the plot.  Also, best movie serenade EVER.

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Story Analysis & Ratings:

Lucy says: 4.5 Pops ~ A funny, sharply told love story that hits all the right notes. I especially love the divergence from the somewhat misogynistic source material; this movie is about both people breaking down the other’s defenses, and it leaves you smiling. The big flub is Allison Janney’s character, who was great but had no business being in this movie.

Lucy’s rating breakdown: Structure: 4, Comedy: 5, Romance: 5

Jenny says: 5 Pops ~ I love the way this movie arcs the character with romance and the romance with the character, fusing plot and character, using brilliant music choices to move both.  Kat’s intro is musical characterization genius.

Jenny’s rating breakdown: Structure: 5, Comedy: 5, Romance: 5

Blog Poll Rating: TBD

Click here for the Chat Transcript.

Movie Info:

Story: The Taming of the Shrew in a 20th century high school: Tempestuous, terrifying Kat must be lured into dating before her pretty little sister Bianca can go out; enter Patrick Verona, rumored to have eaten a live duck and therefore the man to tame the shrew.  Release Date: March 31, 1999. Writer(s): Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith, William Shakespeare (Taming of the Shrew)

Jenny

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5 responses to “Ep 31: 10 Things I Hate About You”

  1. I love this movie. So much that I made my parents watch it over and over after I bought until they loved it too. A thought struck me as I was listening to the podcast, when you talked about the serenade and getting her favorite singer for the prom because he wants to make her happy. One of my favorite moments is at the prom just before “Cruel to Be Kind,” when he tells her he was in Milwaukee watching Wheel of Fortune and eating Spaghetti-O’s. I think I love it so much because he’s giving her something she asked for just before they had that fight, when she says “Tell me something no one else knows.” I love that he remembered, and that he chose something that made her laugh.

  2. I loved this movie and gave it 5 kernels. It really did a good job of showing the underlying threads of a relationship, what seemingly subtle things combine to make that weave that ties one to another. How one person connects and totally gets another human being.
    TTofTS was the same. I think P was cruel to K, not really to break her/tame her/make her submit, but because he recognized something in her that was trapped. It was the only way to break through the barriers she’d built up. What we saw as cruelness actually freed her to be able to love.