10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU - Blu-ray review

It was Julia Stiles' second starring role (after "Wicked"), but for everyone else, "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999) was a pretty new experience. Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("3rd Rock from the Sun") may have had quite a few minor TV appearances and a couple bit parts in films under his belt, but this was his first big role. Same with Larisa Oleynik, whose only previous film was "The Baby-Sitters Club." And most famously, "10 Things I Hate About You" was the first American film in which Heath Ledger starred. Eighteen at the time, his only credits prior to this teen comedy were a handful of appearances on Australian TV and a bit part in one Australian movie.

"10 Things" was also the first feature-film screenplay from Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, who would go on to do "Legally Blonde" and "Ella Enchanted." And it was the first film ever for TV director Gil Junger ("Blossom," "Ellen"). But as Junger and the writers reminisce on one of the bonus features, everything just sort of came together for this film, and the cast and crew had a feeling that they were producing something of value.

In the lone extra in which principals stroll down memory lane, there's no mention of influences. But one would have to imagine that, aside from Shakespeare--"10 Things" is loosely based on "The Taming of the Shrew"--the writers and/or director were in part inspired by "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986). John Hughes had a knack for not talking down to teens, instead creating intelligently written films that just happened to be about the zit-set. Well, the same thing happens here. Plus, when you watch Ledger grab a microphone and ham it up while he sings in grand production fashion, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" to Stiles in the football stadium, it's hard not to think of Matthew Broderick and his "Danke Schoen" parade number.

More so than in "Ferris," music drives this film and helps create a "with it" tone, thanks to a beginning-to-end soundtrack featuring tunes by Barenaked Ladies, Joan Jett, K-Ci & JoJo, Spiderbait, Air, Sprung Monkey, Letters to Cleo, ATM, Brick, Cameo, George Clinton, Salt-N-Pepa, The S.O.S. Band, The Notorious B.I.G., The Thompson Twins, The Cardigans, Ta-Gana, The Colourfield, Madness, Joan Armatrading, Leroy, Semisonic, Sister Hazel, Jessica Riddle, Richard Gibbs, and (coincidence?) Save Ferris. Location filming adds a lot too, with the castle-like Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington serving as Padua High.

Shakespeare-lovers will recall that Padua was the setting for "The Taming of the Shrew," and the writers have a lot of fun with names. Instead of Petruchio from Verona, the mysterious bad boy in "10 Things I Hate About You" is Patrick Verona (Ledger). And the "shrew" that he has to tame isn't named Kate, as in Shakespeare's version, but Kat Stratford (Stiles)--as in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. True to the play, her sister is named Bianca (Oleynik), but nothing else is similar, except that rather than the father forbidding his popular Bianca from marrying until her shrewish sister does, Dad (Larry Miller) forbids Bianca to date unless her stand-offish sister does. That's where the "loosely" comes into play.

On one of the bonus features, Gordon-Levitt pleaded with the director not to have him say any dumb teen lines--no clichés, in other words--and Junger appears to have kept his word. It's the writing and the endearing and energetic performances, more than the twist on Shakespeare, that make this film click. But make no mistake about it: though the writing is a cut above the typical teen fare, the plot of the film is still 100 percent pure teen angst, and the film is still clearly aimed at a young audience.

But what a difference a decade makes. In Ferris Bueller's time, you had boring teachers ("Anyone? . . . Anyone?") who made a glass of milk look interesting by comparison. At Padua High, there's an English teacher (Daryl Mitchell) who swears at the kids and puts them down as if they were competitors on a basketball court talking smack. And the guidance counselor, Ms. Perky (Allison Janney, "The West Wing")? She's too busy working on her steaming novel on her laptop to really offer much guidance to the "bad" kids sent to her each day.

Junger says that he panicked right before he was supposed to begin shooting, and went straight to Border's Books, where he bought six books on how to direct a film. He read them, and went in and did his job. But I'd like to know what books he read, because his sense of pacing, editing, framing shots, and finding the center of a scene and capturing the energy are all things that he does surprisingly well for a director making the leap from the small screen. And that soundtrack helps move the plot briskly along.

Kat is a raging feminist who gets into arguments with her class and has a reputation for being the modern-day equivalent of a shrew. BE-otch, I suppose you'd say. Her sister is the popular one, and the plot is set in motion because her father declares that the sister can't date until her social-misfit sister does. He thinks it's a pretty safe policy, but then he hadn't counted on the lengths to which teen boys will go in order to get laid. And two "suitors" emerge for Bianca: nice guy Cameron (Gordon-Levitt) and arrogant commercial model Joey (Andrew Keegan). With a little prodding from his friend Michael (David Krumholtz) and no cash to pull it off himself, Cameron approaches Joey and tells him he can get to Bianca if he can pay off someone to date her sister. Naturally, Joey thinks the one to handle Kat is bad-boy Patrick Verona, who's rumored to have spent time in prison and may not have a liver. You know how the rumor-mill works in high school.

Anyway, in a plot we've seen a thousand times, Patrick takes the cash and begins to "woo" the not-so-fair Kat. Soon 10 things I hate about you turns into 10 things I love about you, but in true romantic comedy fashion, nothing comes easily.

There's not much more to this film. But as I said, the music, the cast, and the writing are all good enough to overcome any sense of familiarity or the limitations of genre.

Video:
This 10-year-old film doesn't look a day over seven. For a catalog title, "10 Things" looks pretty good in 1080p. Then again, so did the DVD, and there's only the slightest difference to the casual observer. What I notice most about the Blu-ray transfer is the increased 3-dimensionality. Otherwise, the thin layer of film grain, the occasional noise, and the respectable black levels and natural-looking colors are on a par with the DVD. I guess kudos are in order, since Disney kept the DNR in their holsters. Only a few scenes seem overprocessed, with noticeable artificial sharpening. But the bulk of the film looks pretty good, though not nearly as knockout as a current release on Blu-ray. "10 Things" is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and as on the DVD, the detail and clarity are such that in some shots you can see skin imperfections on the 18-year-old Stiles' forehead. I'll be she just loves that!

Audio:
The audio is decent, but front-heavy. It's the way the film was shot, though, and so the English DTS-HD MA 5.1 featured audio isn't as dynamic as you'd expect from a current title. The rear-effects speakers are barely active, with only a hint of ambient sound. Only when Ledger does his grand stadium serenade do we get a little more dynamism in the soundtrack. Still, for a catalog title, it's hard to complain.

Extras:
Sorry, Blu-fans. There are no Blu-ray exclusive bonus features. Everything here matches the DVD release.

Fans of Digital Copy will consider this the big bonus feature. Aside from that, there's just a 35-minute documentary and a commentary track featuring writers Lutz & Smith, along with actors Keegan, Krumholtz, Oleynik, and Susan May Pratt--in other words, no Stiles, no Miller, and no Janney. The commentary track is average, but the 10-part documentary is better. The back cover claims that there are deleted scenes, while a front-cover sticker touts never-before-seen Heath Ledger screen test footage. Well, they're here, but they're not stand-alones. They're woven into the documentary. In truth, though, that's what makes the making-of feature better than average. We have to wonder how much Junger truly did know at the time, when he keeps talking about how he instantly knew that Ledger would become a star. But it's all pretty poignant, in retrospect.

Bottom Line:
"10 Things I Hate About You" is especially rewarding to watch 10 years later, knowing the stars that these young actors had become . . . and, sadly, remembering that Ledger is no longer with us.