| Surely
you’ve already heard that Hollywood
has run out of original ideas. So you
shouldn’t be surprised that the
sharpest and most successful films
recently released are classic novels or
plays reworked into modern settings with
young stars, preferably from popular
television shows. It started with Clueless
(Austen’s "Emma") a few
years back. Then there was William
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.
So far this year we’ve had She’s
All That (Shaw’s
"Pygmalion") and Cruel
Intentions (de Laclos’
"Dangerous Liaisons"). And
don’t forget new version of
Shakespeare’s "Othello"
and Hamlet due later this
year, as well as a more traditional
rendition of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. 10
Things is essentially
Shakespeare’s "The Taming of
the Shrew" set in present-day
America. It’s about two sisters
– one popular (Larisa Oleynik, The
Secret World of Alex Mack) and one
dubbed "a heinous bitch" by her
peers (Julia Stiles, The Devil’s
Own). Like the play, they are
respectively named Bianca and Kate) and
they live in a town called Padua. Bianca
has many suitors, but isn’t allowed
to go out with boys until her older
sister is ready to date.
Enter new Padua
High student Cameron (Joseph-Gordon
Levitt, 3rd
Rock From the Sun) who instantly
falls for the pasty Bianca and cooks up a
plan to persuade popular jock Joey Donner
(Andrew Keegan) to pay the school psycho
to date Kat. Of course, he’s not
really a psycho; he’s just
misunderstood because he has long hair,
wears dark-colored clothes and works in
the metal shop. His name is Patrick
Verona (Heath Ledger, Roar), and
he quickly realizes that taming this
shrew might be a lot more difficult than
he had originally thought.
The script is
surprisingly witty and filled with
razor-sharp barbs hurled from just about
every character. And that’s pretty
shocking, considering it came from a
writing duo (Karen McCullah Lutz and
Kirsten Smith) with no previous
screenplay experience. While avoiding an
"R" rating, they manage to
weave a tapestry of near-obscenities that
will make even the most cynically jaded
adult chuckle just as loud as the
pre-teens that this film’s marketing
campaign will target. Particularly funny
are Padua’s English teacher (Daryl
Mitchell, Veronica’s Closet)
and guidance counselor (Allison Janney, Private
Parts).
1:38 –
for some mild adult language and
situations
|
