10 Things I Hate About You
The Taming of the Shrew meets both Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210, set in a modern high school.  It's a pretty faithful adaptation, but not too faithful.  The intrigues among Biancca's suitors are much simplified.  Lucentio doesn't disguise himself, though he does tutor Bianca, and is advised by a friend.  The two of them get another guy who wants Bianca to pay a fourth guy to take out Kate (called Kat).  The guy takes Kat out even though she says no, like the wedding in the play.  Interestingly enough, though Kat ends up in love with the Petruchio character, she doesn't really seem tamed at the end.  At least there's nothing I would consider evidence.  She never gives in to her father's desire to go to the nearby college he went to and in fact tames him and he lets her go far away.  As far as the marriage thing, at the beginning of the movie their father says they can't date until graduation.  Seeing that Kat never plans to date, he changes it to this : Bianca, a stupid airhead sophomore who can't wait to go out with a popular (and obnoxious) senior, can't date until Kat does.  None of the plot seems forced, which is lucky, since it would be easy for it to be.  The dad comes off as perfectly reasonable-my own dad isn't too different from him.  The performances are all pretty good.  I'm glad they mentioned that the Petruchio character had lived in Australia, because the actor's accent is impossible to ignore.  Overall, it's an adaptation quite different from the actual play, but as far as adaptations go it's very good.  the teacher is a great character, though I don't know how well I would like having him all year, and the counselor is hilarious.

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