Project-Blu '10 Things I Hate About You' Blu-ray Review, By Nate Boss

10 Things I Hate About You

By: Nate Boss, 1.6.2010

The Movie Itself:
Project-Blu Points Bulletin (The PB PB)

Pro:
A star turn for Heath Ledger
One of the better extreme adaptations of Shakespeare's famous works
A teen comedy that can remain funny here and there on repeat viewings

Con:
Some pretty poor performances by lesser roles
While Ledger became a star, he's pretty rough around the edges here
Some seriously faulty logic throughout, stretching to say the least

With the passing of Heath Ledger (and the appreciation of his work much more in his death, much like the irony found in painter's fame), it's hard to tell what would be more noteworthy a topic of introduction to this release. Does one discuss the impact Ledger and his works had, or discuss the setups, allusions, allegories, and manipulations to the works of one William (Bill to his friends, Pedro to his closest friends) Shakespeare in the film, 10 Things I Hate About You? Better yet, does one discuss what they hate, in laundry list fashion, much like the writers of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? Why not, they both share the number 10, right?

Ledger may not have been as bright a star had it not been for his "breakout performance" as it were in 10 Things I Hate About You, a role that made him out to be a rebellious pretty boy/bad boy mixture that guys would want to be like, and girls would love to like, and like to love. The film went on to be a fan favorite and established two budding careers (while the rest of the cast were somewhat summarily forgotten), and it did no favors for the director, who's biggest film after 10 Things would end up being Black Knight. Black...Knight. The biggest travesty? Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control (and always out of humor). Things hit such a low point that the film being reviewed today was remade into a television program, with the only holdover being Larry Miller, as the hilarious father figure of the film.

Padua High School, home of some of the most extreme cliche students (of a wide ranging variety, of course, who all stick to their cliques, of course), has received its newest student, Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, back then known only for his role on 3rd Rock From the Sun), who falls drastically for Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik). The problem? Bianca isn't allowed to date, as her father (Miller) has set a rule in the house (a light step down from the no dating period clause), that she cannot date unless her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) is also dating.

Why is that really a problem? Perhaps the fact that Kat has no interest in guys, and would rather summarily dismiss anyone and anything in her path. Cameron and Bianca conspire to get Kat hooked up, but to no avail, until Cameron and rich boy Joey (Andrew Keegan), who has a thing for Bianca, conspire to bribe class bad boy Patrick Verona (Ledger) to woo the shrew...for a hundred bucks a day. Being that the film is a romantic comedy, of course, hilarity and teenage hormones ensue.

William Shakespeare has been adapted many ways, from countless abysmal high school plays and poetry classes (that are more suck than success), to film, with mixed results. Not every work of Shakespeare on film has worked out as well as those with Laurence Olivier, or those translated for a Japanese audience/setting like those directed by Akira Kurosawa. Recent years have seen more twisted tales, with O (also starring Stiles, coincidentally) adapting Othello, Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet taking off of Bill's best known work, and 10 Things taking the tale from The Taming of the Shrew.

Of all the modern remixes of ol' Bill, 10 Things I Hate About You is one of the better ones, as it isn't pretentious too often (all modern adaptations have a somewhat thick layer of pretentiousness), while targeting its audience nicely (though, sadly, failing to appeal to anyone outside the 12 to 30 age range). The mixture of Shakespeare into the film, from characters obsessed with him (which makes sense in this high school full of extremities), to the random quotations of his works mid-scene, to the names (Patrick VERONA? Why not just name him friggin' Romeo?) can be a bit much, a strong stretch that is more an over-extension, though without it, this would just be another run of the mill teen comedy.

My questions with this film has to do with logic, something that the writers failed to take into account. One...when a student has been in nine schools in ten years (ten? as in 10? 10 things?), why pursue the girl that catches one's eye with such passion? Two...when the female leads in the film have no mother figure, only an over-protective father, why don't they just go around him? These are supposedly pesky, sneaky teens, yet they have no common sense on how to do what they want, asking for permission to piss, let alone date. Three...why the rumor mill with extreme exaggerations? That shit died long before this film came out. It's cliche, a bad plot device, and is utterly unbelievable. Four...with the mommy/daddy issues, why doesn't Patrick just take advantage of that? We have two young girls rebelling, so why not appease to their interests in that way? Five...who hasn't seen a teen comedy where a bet to get the girl (in whatever fashion) is exposed, the girl gets pissed, and storms off, right when progress was made? Seriously? Lastly, six...the film isn't that old, but damn, damn, damn, why date a film so horribly with LOUD, LOUD clothing, changing a timeless work into a dated genre piece?

In my second viewing of 10 Things I Hate About You, my first in approximately seven years, I can't say it stood the test of time, nor did it stand up to my memories of the film. It has too many holes, stretches in logic, odd situations, and unbelievable circumstances. Still, it's pretty fun, even ten years later. While a 7/10 may seem a bit high a score, compared to other Shakespeare twists, 10 Things is a 10. Give this one another look, watch an early performance by the late Ledger, see if you can see what anyone saw in Stiles (talent-wise or otherwise), and marvel at how far Gorden-Levitt has come in his talents as an actor.
Rating: 7/10

The Presentation:
10 Things I Hate About You features a 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encode that is nice, sometimes strong, though a hair aged and possibly tinkered with. Colors are strong, and detail receives a nice improvement from the very outdated DVD release, with popping clothing strands and stray hairs. Grain levels are strong, though in their strongest moments, facial features don't seem to have much of a grain presence. Since facial features also lack any real character, you know, like blemishes, signs of makeup application, pores, moles, indents/divets, or the like, and appear smudged occasionally, it's possible DNR was used here. There's also a fair amount of dirt and debris on the print, some small, some quite large.

Edges are natural, though, and the picture can be incredibly deep in some sequences (others can be flat, admittedly). Whites are busy, with digital noise obvious in lighter solid colors (including a shirt in the chest area late in the film...way to make it obvious that we, the audience, are staring there!). Delineation is a bit subpar, while artifacting occasionally pops up. It's a nice transfer, a supreme improvement, it just isn't the best on the format...not that it ever would be.

10 Things I Hate About You sports an audio track that won't make you hate it. You aren't going to fall in love with it like it were some soon-to-be famous actor or anything, but the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does a sporting job of what it is given to work with.

Dialogue is clear, solid, standing out even over some heavy soundtrack elements. It can pop unnaturally in emphasized moments, though, and there is a moment at the start of the Lowenstein party where the noise blurs as students crowd in.. The soundtrack is solid, with great rear use, and a solid bass presence (which accounts for the only bass use in the film (though to be fair, we are talking about a teen romantic comedy!)). There is some random atmosphere, though it's not too thick, and is constantly lighter than what appears on screen, sometimes drastically. Prioritization is good, and there's even a few bits of localization late in the film! The track is not a sonic wonder, but since we're talking about a 90's teen film, about love and high school, it is more than appropriate, and is quite fitting, really.
Rating: 7/10 (video score: 7.3/10, audio score 7.0/10)

The Extras:
Sticker on slipcover promises Screen Test footage of Heath Ledger (cash in on a man's death in a less obvious way next time!), and it is hidden in the feature, and is incredibly brief at that.

Feature- 10 Things I Love About 10 Things About You- 10 Years Later (HD, 35 min) A compilation of new and old interviews, clips of the film, influences, deleted scenes, cast ramblings, casting footage, and so on. A fairly nice retrospective, all formatted in a list (containing 32 things for some reason...ok, ok, 10 things).

Audio Commentary - With Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith, Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, Larisa Oleynik, and Susan May Pratt.

Pre-Menu Trailers - When in Rome, Extract, Surrogates
Rating: 3/10

Overall:
10 Things I Hate About You doesn't give me any reason to hate it (besides the circumstances behind my first viewing of the film...but that's a long, personal story). Even ten years later, 10 Things has some fun little quirks and bits of cinema history, even if it's not the best film ever made, from a production or acting standpoint. The Blu-ray for 10 Things is solid (though the damn lingering timelines that stay around for numerous seconds after resuming play after any pause need to go!!!!!!), and is very much worth a look, for fans and newcomers alike.
Rating: 6/10