10 Things I Hate About You is a romantic comedy movie made in 1999. The movie is also a more modern version of one of Shakespeare’s plays “The Taming of the Shrew.” Throughout the movie, there are references to this play, such as Bianca and Kat’s last names, Stratford, as in Strandford-upon-Avon (William Shakespeare’s birthplace). Patrick’s last name is Verona, which was the place where Petruchio, the corresponding character of this play, was born. The sisters’ names are the same as they are in the play, Katarina and Bianca.

The movie follows the life of the two sisters, Bianca and Katarina Stratford, as they experience relationships and love during their teenage years. Bianca is the more popular,  “pretty” sister who wants to go out and party, date, as well as attend prom, but is not allowed to until her older sister does. Her older sister Kat, is described as the more strong and independent sibling who doesn’t see the point in dating and partying. She doesn’t want to do what people expect her to do, or what everyone else is doing by any means.

Cameron James is a new student who has just transferred to their high school and he, like everyone else, takes a liking to Bianca. After finding out that her dad has forbidden her from dating, he creates a plan to find someone suitable or willing to take Kat out on a date so that he and Bianca can be together.

After some time, Cameron decides to ask Patrick Verona who is charming and rebellious. Patrick decides to go along with this plan, as he is being paid to take her out. It takes a while for him to do so, but he begins to get through to Kat and they begin to genuinely fall in love with one another.

Meanwhile, Cameron begins to go for Bianca, but Bianca chooses to go for Joey, who is characterized as popular and self centered. Bianca later realizes what Joey was really after and she begins to see that Cameron’s feelings are genuine and her feelings for him begin to grow.

This part was one of my favorites in the movie because Cameron had the confidence to go for a girl everyone else wanted. For a short time it seemed like he wasn’t going to be able to be with her due to his not being as popular as Joey, but in the end they worked out despite all of that.

10 Things I Hate About You is a movie that shows the difficulty in teenage love and capturing the ups and downs of it, learning to be yourself despite what others say and believe, as well as themes of identity.

I really enjoyed this movie and seeing how everything unfolded. Seeing some characters put aside their differences while others break down walls and learn to love as they stay true to their hearts was one of my favorite aspects of the film. I rate this movie a solid 10/10.