10 bonnes raisons de te larguer

On his first day at a new school, Cameron falls for Bianca Stratford. However not only is she popular and beautiful but her father has forbidden her to date until her older sister does too. The problem is her sister, Kat, is negative, bad tempered and unfriendly and certainly undateable. Cameron seeks the services of school bad boy Pat who he arranges to be paid to date Kat and thus allow him to go out with Bianca - but things never go smoothly when it comes to love.

I'm not a big fan of teen comedies. They mostly are lame, trading on the same old plots and clichés that have been around since Animal House and Porkies. The recent trend has just seen classical texts adapted giving rise to some poor films like `She's all that'. The plot for this is basically `The Taming of the Shrew' updated - most of it bares little resemblance to the play but that doesn't matter - the core is interesting enough to stand on it's own. It may not surprise you in terms of who gets which girl and it's fairly predictable in a romantic comedy type way but that's not it.

No - the film is funny, lively and pretty enjoyable. The comedy is built around the central plot with lots of nice touches and characters that are genuinely funny, such Mr Morgan and the erotic drama writing headmistress. The jokes happily never stoop to the gross-out type and this helps it feel fresh and lively, rather than just scrapping the bottom of the barrel.

Another strength is that the cast are all very likeable and give good performances all round. Compared to the horror or Prince and Lillard in `She's all that' this was a dream cast. Ledger is a real up and comer and he does well here - he doesn't over-egg his bad boy cake and his fall into love is believable. Stiles is very cool and better than the teen roles she has had of late. Here she rises above the `outsider' cliché given to her and does good work - again being a likeable and believable character.. Gordon-Levitt is OK but quite characterless compared to the main two roles, likewise Oleynik. The bets roles are those on the edges and the three adult support roles really do well and are very funny - Janney, Mitchell and especially Miller on good form. Gabrielle Union is once again given a side role that doesn't play to her strength. I like her and want to see her in bigger roles but here she is a `minority face' in a predominately white film, just as she was in She's All That - maybe I'm being a little paranoid but that's what it feels like.

Overall I was taken by surprise as to how funny and lively this film was. It didn't sink to the gross out comedy of so many teen movies and had characters and actors who brought spark and energy to the screen. It may be predictable but it works and the jokes and side characters just add to the sense of fun. Not brilliant but compared to the mediocre bunch of teen comedies you COULD watch, this is fantastic!

When hiring this movie was first suggested I turned up my nose at it. I thought, another teenagers flick where the hottest guy in school has to appreciate a lesser unpopular chick etc etc etc. Since seeing it it has enterred my all time favourites list. Any old somebody can take the formula of The Taming of the Shrue and put it into a school yard, and any old somebody can avoid cle she's in the finer details, coming up with decent alternatives is the hard part, whatever they did here works like clockwork. I would easily give it the best teen flick mantle.

Firstly, the acting is perfect, the roles are not overly demanding but Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger play this to perfection. The supporting cast is great aswell, there is not a soul that doesn't contribute to the perfection of it all. Realism is neither what they were really going for nor what makes the movie. The language and vocabulary of these kids is phenominal, words like, Vapid, Pensive, Hanus, Tempestuous, Miscreants. There are lots of words like these throughout the movie. It is the thing that does the most to enable adult enjoyment.

For once they avoided the school bully theme, the bad guy in this is just a model who the chicks like and some of the guys hang with and alot of others just realise he is a fool. The recessive geek role is this time given alot more credibility, he is given the majority of the genuinely witty one liners and finds a soul mate for himself, instead of them just making it a joke that he stays a joke. There are a few parts you can really cheer in, you have to watch it to appreciate them. There is truly never a dull moment.

The best quote of the whole movie would have to be "it's just an excuse for all the nerds at our school to rub up against each other to distract themselves from the pathetic emptiness of thier meaningless consumer driven lives" that pretty much sums up the purpose of teen parties these days. For once you actually identify with the "bitch" role in this, both she and the guy that is falsely pursuing her take a backward step, usually when it comes time for the leading man to apolagise for his deceit you really cant believe him after they have focused for so long on his efforts, this time for some reason you do, it fits straight into the story. There is another half to that situation here aswell but I wont disclose, it is probably the best bit of the movie.

And the last major point is that this time the father character is a hell of alot stronger than before, if that had been weak so would the rest of the movie have been, but he is not. He has a reason for being there and you identify with him aswell. It is clear to see they were making the characters all strong in thier own right and stronger than the actual story.

To sum it all up the characters, story and acting are all perfect, adults can enjoy this one aswell, also because the main relationships are more stable and adult than the unpredictability of true teenage relationships, if they can be called such. So here is the count.

Production Values 2/2, Acting 2/2, Quality and Meaning 1.5/2, Screenplay 2/2, Originality 1/2

Anyone can get something from this movie and most can get alot. This is a must. For the movie it is I would give it 10 but going by the main qualities listed above which all movies can be measured by it would get

8.5/10

Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is a hard girl to like. Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a new student at Padua High in Seattle. Michael (David Krumholtz) befriends the newcomer. Cameron falls for Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) but her father Walter (Larry Miller) won't let her date until his daughters graduate. Then Walter changes the rule to allow Bianca to date when Kat does. Cameron intends to find somebody for Kat. Michael tricks Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) to pay mysterious bad boy Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to take out Kat. It's basically William Shakespeare's teen rom-com "The Taming of the Shrew". It has enough wit and fun. On top of it all, there's the good young pretty cast. Stiles is a terrific high-minded B and Ledger is a great bad boy with a heart. It's all good fun.

This was the Kickstarter to three big actors careers. Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Some of the comedy is well utilised and the jokes can come in so bizarrely that you can't help but laugh. I mean, I love how random this film is. Parts of the film feel so different and bizarre and it actually works. And also the multiple amount of main characters. I mean, at first u think it's gonna be Joseph Gordon Levitt because he is the new kid at school, but then it changes to Bianca and Cat and it starts to become a story about two sisters but then it sort of changes to a love story about Heath Ledger and Cat. However, it doesn't feel bad either. But if I were to say anything negative about it then I would say that Cameron's backstory was kinda glanced over and he isn't really given much character development. Also, there's really strange scene. This is where they are trying to ask a bunch of strangers whether they would date Cat. Now they could have just had them all laughing which they do, but then proceed to ask them one by one. It just feels a bit too strange and the editing isn't great either. Anyway, my favourite character is probably the English teacher. He's just the embodiment of what you wanted, but also didn't want your teachers to be like. But obviously the best scene in the entire film is the 'Can't take my eyes off you" performance done by Heath Ledger. The acting is gray with Julia Stiles giving a strong performance and Heath Ledger killing it in his role. R.I.P Heath Ledger! Another great scene is the one where Cameron's friend nearly cycles all the way down to the sports stadium. It was so bizarre and out of left field but great at the same time. Anyway, while this film isn't perfect it's different to your average high school romcom and makes you feel just whelmed. Definitely worth a watch.

A movie like this doesn't exactly hit you over the head with its originality, and can only be as good as the actors. They must convince you that you've never seen anything like this before. In this case every single member of the cast is so good that they sold me on the movie from minute one. Heath Ledger & Julia Stiles make a great couple and his rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" was one of the highlights. When Julia listed the "10 Things" she was crying and I was, too - extremely unusual for me in a movie like this. Everyone else was just as good and this movie is a keeper.