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The Rewatchables ·

10 Things I Hate About You

year 1999decade 90sdirector Gil Jungergenre Drama
host Juliet Litmanhost Amanda Dobbinshost Andrew Gruttadaro
All 12 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 3:47

The Lowenstein party, pinned to Julia Stiles dancing on the table to Hypnotize

Andrew Gruttadaro: The first pick is the whole Lowenstein party (Bowie Lowenstein, as transcribed), starting with the flyers thrown down the stairwell; after an objection that this selects a whole portion of the movie, the pick narrows to Julia Stiles dancing on the table to Hypnotize.

Stiles has said in several interviews that the table dance got her the role in Save the Last Dance, which is called a backhanded compliment since she is thought to be a bad dancer there, a ballerina learning hip hop in Chicago; perhaps her dancing reflects the problems of that film's premise.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 35:48

"I like my Skechers, but I love my Prada backpacks"

The Prada backpack line, already raised earlier, is one pick and is called prescient; the overwhelmed, underwhelmed, whelmed exchange is another, and the lines between the two leads are praised; the poem remains the third pick as unassailable.

The film

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Directed by Gil Junger · Drama

97 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Cast credits have not been imported yet.

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

1:11

Casting What-Ifs

Larisa Oleynik wanted Kat and Julia Stiles wanted Bianca, per IMDb; Ashton Kutcher and Josh Hartnett also wanted Patr...

Larisa Oleynik wanted Kat and Julia Stiles wanted Bianca, per IMDb; Ashton Kutcher and Josh Hartnett also wanted Patrick Verona, which went to Heath Ledger in his first American film

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:11Read transcript
  • The film came out in 1999; according to IMDb, Larissa Olenek (as transcribed) wanted to play Kat and Julia Stiles wanted to play Bianca, and a casting director swapped them, with the caveat that IMDb's sourcing is looser than Wikipedia's and the 'I wanted that role but got this one' story is a common film narrative.
  • Patrick Verona, Heath Ledger's first American movie role, was also desired by Ashton Kutcher and Josh Hartnett; Hartnett is dark enough to have done it, while Kutcher would have made it a different movie.
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22:17

Half-Assed Internet Research

Andrew Keegan could not draw the anatomy gag and David Krumholtz showed him how; the film was shot entirely on locati...

Andrew Keegan could not draw the anatomy gag and David Krumholtz showed him how; the film was shot entirely on location, with Stadium High School in Tacoma as the school; Kat's poem took one take with natural tears

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:17Read transcript
  • Andrew Keegan (Andrew Keaton, as transcribed) did not know how to draw the anatomy gag and David Krumholtz showed him; the hosts find this baffling, debate whether it is a drawing rather than knowledge problem, and one notes that the on-screen attempt in four parts is not how it is done, though building it serves the punchline.
  • It is a very well directed, tight 90-minute film that hits all the right notes, down to the process of drawing the gag.
  • The movie was filmed entirely on location, so the gigantic stadium, staircase and Hogwarts-looking school is a real school, Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington, which is wasted on teenagers; asked what happens there when it rains, the answer is that they shot in summer, and it is a grand vista for Heath Ledger's debut.
  • Research found the poem took only one take and the tears were natural and improvised.
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33:57

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How do these high school kids get into bars on weeknights? How old is Patrick Verona? Why is Julia Stiles a better da...

How do these high school kids get into bars on weeknights? How old is Patrick Verona? Why is Julia Stiles a better dancer here than in Save the Last Dance?

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:57Read transcript
  • How these high schoolers get into bars on weeknights, and how old Patrick Verona is, since he could be 19 or 36; he took a year off because his grandfather was sick, and is drinking beer in the open and playing pool at the bar where he is recruited for the job.
  • There are a lot of bars for a high school movie, perhaps a Pacific Northwest nod or 16-and-over clubs like the limelight; the Letters to Cleo venue is suspiciously well lit and clean with a Hollywood sheen, and a father who forbids dating would not allow a Tuesday show, though its all-women crowd at Club Skunk might make it a safe space given his stated worries.
  • Flagged earlier as an unanswerable question: why Stiles is a much better dancer here than in Save the Last Dance, with tequila offered as the answer.
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35:48

Picking Nits

The guitar-in-the-car resolution forgives Patrick without resolving anything and betrays Kat's character; the resolut...

The guitar-in-the-car resolution forgives Patrick without resolving anything and betrays Kat's character; the resolution is rushed after the unresolved prom

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:48Read transcript
  • The resolution is called bullshit: Kat finds a guitar in her car and all is forgiven, which the film half-acknowledges with her line about not buying her a guitar every time; it is a betrayal of a character written as a feminist who reads the Bell Jar, and who should at least make him sweat a few days, though Ledger's charm and the bass-and-drums line would work on the hosts every time.
  • The film waits too long to clear this hurdle, which spoils the dance scene and then rushes the resolution; like Hanks in You've Got Mail, a charming guy can sell anything in these movies, which is how they get the rom-com-loving hosts.
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