10 Things I Hate About You is an incredibly entertaining film. Directed by Gil Junger, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, it is available on Hulu, Disney+ and ESP

The story follows in Padua Hills, a fictional town near Seattle, where new sophomore student Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) instantly falls head over heels for the girl of his dreams: popular and wealthy sophomore Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), but learns that her father has prohibited her from dating until her ill-tempered, hot-headed older sister Kat (Julia Stiles), who is a senior and eagerly awaiting the moment she can leave town for college in the fall, gets a boyfriend. In attempt to solve his problem, Cameron’s new friend, the wealthy aspiring model and self-absorbed senior Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) finds the only guy who could possibly be a match for Kat: Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) , a mysterious bad boy who is a junior and has a nasty reputation of his own. For $500, Patrick has to go out and break Kat’s heart before the end of the school year, but while hanging out with her, he develops feelings for her as she becomes more vulnerable to him than she has with anyone else. Cast includes: 

Julia Stiles as Katarina “Kat” Stratford, the antisocial, shrewish elder Stratford sister

Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona, the Australian “bad boy” hired to date Kat

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James, the new student at Padua High School who is smitten with Bianca and goes to great lengths to win her over

Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford, the younger Stratford sister, superficial and popular

Larry Miller as Walter Stratford, an obstetrician and single parent who is overprotective of his daughters

Andrew Keegan as Joey Donner, an affluent, self-absorbed high school senior and aspiring model who intends to have sex with Bianca, and to that end pays Patrick to date Kat

David Krumholtz as Michael Eckman, a geek who assists Cameron in his quest to woo Bianca, and in the process tries to woo Kat’s friend Mandella

Susan May Pratt as Mandella, Kat’s only close friend and an aficionado of William Shakespeare

Gabrielle Union as Chastity Church, Bianca’s best friend

Daryl Mitchell as Mr. Morgan, teacher of Kat, Patrick, and Joey’s English class

Allison Janney as Ms. Perky, Padua High School’s guidance counselor and a writer of erotic literature

David Leisure as Mr. Chapin, coach of the girls’ soccer teamGreg Jackson as “Scurvy”, a friend of Patrick

Kyle Cease as Bogey Lowenstein, a golf enthusiast and member of a clique of aspiring MBAs

Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 71%. When I went to see 10 Things I Hate About You, I expected the usual boring, pointless romantic comedy, where the romance is unbelievable and the comedy part seriously lacking. Instead I got an excellent plot and funny jokes with actual chemistry between the leads. As it is a modern remake of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, you might think you need to know all about the play, but in reality the plot of the film is different and only the occasional bit of name-dropping has any connection to the play. Julia Stiles as Kat is undoubtedly the best actress, with Larisa Oleynik as her sister Bianca (an airhead eerily similar to Clueless’ Cher) is also funny and believable. Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are also good as their eventual boyfriends. The dialogue is hilarious and while the romantic plot is corny, it is entertaining (although the happily ever after ending is a bit too routine). The soundtrack and in particular the main title song (by Letters to Cleo) are catchy and the outakes at the end are good, although including outtakes of scene that were taken out of the end movie is kind of confusing. I would recommend 10 Things I Hate About You to absolutely anyone as it is hilarious and without doubt the best romantic comedy I have ever seen.