{"id":11411,"date":"2019-03-26T12:10:38","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T19:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=11411"},"modified":"2019-03-13T12:28:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T19:28:04","slug":"can-you-ever-just-be-whelmed-10-things-i-hate-about-you-at-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/can-you-ever-just-be-whelmed-10-things-i-hate-about-you-at-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Ever Just Be Whelmed? 10 Things I Hate About You<\/i> at 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty years ago, Katarina Stratford \u2014 played by the inimitable Julia Stiles \u2014 blasted Joan Jett\u2019s \u201cMy Reputation\u201d from the speakers of her 1964 Dodge Dart; Heath Ledger\u2019s Patrick Verona danced across stadium bleachers belting Frankie Valli\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Take My Eyes Off of You\u201d; and a generation of adolescent girls found their new role model and undying crush. Kat\u2019s deadpan \u201cI want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby\u201d was, as today\u2019s teens say, a big mood, and likely launched many a plagiarized brush-off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gil Junger\u2019s 10 Things I Hate About You<\/i> hit theaters on March 31, 1999, and the teen romcom landscape was never the same. From its immensely quotable script \u2014 \u201cI like<\/i> my Skechers, but I love<\/i> my Prada backpack,\u201d says youngest Stratford sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) \u2014 to its innumerable Shakespeare references and all-star cast, the film immediately entered the zeitgeist and hasn\u2019t left. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was a formative influence, both on the millennials who devoured it and on the rom-coms that would follow in its footsteps. According to Stiles<\/span><\/a>, her drunken table dancing scene helped her nab the role of Sara in the 2001 hit Save the Last Dance<\/i>. Writers Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith went on to pen 2006\u2019s She\u2019s the Man<\/i>, another Shakespeare adaptation that tackled Twelfth Night<\/i> with nearly as deft a hand as the two brought to 10 Things<\/i> (perhaps more deft in terms of social commentary).<\/span><\/p>\n

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TIME CAPSULE: March 31, 1999<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Compiled by Eric D. Snider<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\u2014 10 Things I Hate About You<\/em> was one of two new films that opened on Wednesday that week; the other was a little sci-fi oddity called The Matrix<\/em>. Neo and friends took the top spot at the box office, with 10 Things<\/em> and fellow newcomer The Out-of-Towners<\/em> right behind it. Other hits that week included Analyze This<\/em>, Forces of Nature<\/em>, EDtv<\/em>, Doug’s First Movie<\/em>, and The Mod Squad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Academy Awards for 1998 had been held 10 days earlier (they were much later in the year back then), with Shakespeare in Love<\/em> taking Best Picture thanks to the invaluable efforts of beloved producer Harvey Weinstein.<\/p>\n