10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay, by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is a modernization of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting. The film follows new student Cameron (Gordon-Levitt) who is smitten with Bianca (Oleynik) and, in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating, attempts to get bad boy Patrick (Ledger) to date Bianca's antisocial sister, Kat (Stiles). The film is named after a poem Kat writes about her romance with Patrick. Much of the filming took place in the Seattle metropolitan area, with many scenes shot at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.
Released on March 31, 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You grossed over $60 million and received generally positive reviews from critics. It had breakthrough roles for Stiles, Ledger, and Gordon-Levitt, all of whom were nominated for various teen-oriented awards. The film has since developed a cult following and is considered a classic in the teen film genre. Ten years later, it was adapted into a television reboot, which ran for 20 episodes and featured Larry Miller reprising his role as Walter Stratford.
Plot
Cameron James, a new student at Padua High School in the Seattle area, immediately falls in love with beautiful and popular sophomore Bianca Stratford. Geeky Michael Eckman warns him that she is vapid and conceited, and that her overprotective father does not allow Bianca or her older sister, the shrewish Kat, to date. Kat, a senior, is accepted to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, but her father, Walter, wants her to stay close to home and attend his alma mater University of Washington.
Bianca wishes to date affluent senior Joey Donner, but Walter, an obstetrician worried about teenage pregnancy, will not allow his daughters to date until they graduate. Frustrated by Bianca's insistence and Kat's rebelliousness, Walter declares that Bianca may date only when Kat does, knowing that Kat's antisocial attitude makes this unlikely.
When Cameron asks Bianca out, she informs him of her father's new rule and, as a pretense for allowing her to date Joey, suggests he find someone willing to date Kat. He selects "bad boy" Patrick Verona, but Patrick scares him off. Michael assists by convincing Joey to pay Patrick to take Kat out, under the pretense that this will allow Joey to date Bianca. Patrick agrees to the deal, but Kat rebuffs his first few advances. Michael and Cameron help him by probing Bianca for information on Kat's likes and dislikes. Armed with this knowledge, Patrick begins to win Kat's interest. She goes to a party with him, which enables Bianca to go as well, much to Walter's dismay.
At the party, Kat becomes upset when she sees Bianca with Joey, and responds by getting drunk. Patrick attends to her, and she starts to open up, expressing her interest in starting a band. But when Kat tries to kiss him, Patrick pulls away so she leaves, infuriated. Meanwhile, Bianca ignores Cameron in favor of Joey, leaving Cameron dejected. But Bianca soon realizes that Joey is shallow and self-absorbed, and asks Cameron for a ride home. He admits his feelings for her and his frustration with how she has treated him. Bianca responds by kissing him.
Joey offers to pay Patrick to take Kat to the prom so he can take Bianca. He initially refuses, but relents when he offers him more money. Kat is still angry with Patrick, but he wins her over by serenading her with the accompaniment of the marching band, and she helps him sneak out of detention. They go on a date, which turns romantic, but Kat becomes suspicious and angry when Patrick insists that she go with him to the prom, an event she is adamantly against.
Bianca is irritated that Cameron hasn't asked her to the prom, and so accepts Joey's invitation, but Walter won't allow it unless Kat goes too. Kat confesses to Bianca that she dated Joey when they were freshmen and, succumbing to peer pressure, had sex with him. Afterwards she regretted it and Joey dumped her, so she vowed to never again do anything just because everyone else was doing it. Bianca insists that she can make her own choices, so Kat agrees to go to the prom with Patrick, and Bianca decides to go with Cameron instead of Joey.