10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

PLOT
In this modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew set in a high school, Kat (Julia Stiles, the shrew in the title) is unpopular, not very nice, and prefers to stay that way. But when Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), with ulterior motives, tries to charm her out of her bitchy ways, they end up (surprise!) falling for each other.

WHY I LOVE IT
“I burn, I pine, I perish.”

In the late 90′s there was a gluttony of teenage comedies. They all sucked. Except this one. A ray of sunshine amidst a sea of dreck, 10 Things I Hate About You has surprising depth, a myriad of breakout stars and more laughs than any comedy released that year.

Let’s talk about the stars. We all had heard of Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles when this was released, but this is where people finally took notice. They both oozed charisma (admittedly, more him than her), and they both carved very respectable career paths since then. Ledger – like the late River Phoenix before him – was a hot flame of talent and acting chops before he left us too soon. Here he was arrogantly charming – it was as if he was forcing us to like him even though he really didn’t have to. He already had us at hello. Stiles had some strong projects in her career and became a respected young actress, but her Kat Stratford is still her best work. Teen angst has been done to death in cinema for years and years, but her Kat is a delightful bitch that we’d love to spar with (“Remove head from sphincter, then drive!”).

Also making huge impressions here are Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a big role that should have made him a star. He’s so genial and charming as Cameron, the young lad who had fallen for Kat’s dreamy sister Bianca (played by the absolutely adorable Larisa Oleynik). Throw in the hilarious David Krumholdtz as Cameron’s clueless best buddy (“I have a dick on my face, don’t I?”), Larry Miller as Kat and Bianca’s sweetly overprotective father (who makes his daughters wear a pregnancy suit before their dates to keep them from having sex) and the great Allison Janney as a principal in the midst of penning a racy novel (“Bratwurst? Aren’t we the optimist?”).

I’ve always stated that 10 Things was my rainy day movie, the one movie I can watch whenever I’m feeling blue. It’s a guaranteed pick-me-up. The screenplay is smart, knowing and frequently hilarious, and while it is certainly as conventional as its counterparts (you know exactly how it will all pan out), it surprises you with its emotional sucker punch of a climax. Kat’s poetry reading in her class is beautifully poignant (“But mostly I hate the way that I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.”)

I love you, 10 Things I Hate About You. To paraphrase Kat Stratford, you’re not as vile as I thought you were.

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (2005)

PLOT

Several interlocking stories about love, sexual awakening and innocence lost in suburban Los Angeles

WHY I LOVE IT

Putting it mildly, Miranda July is an …. acquired taste. She’s a performance artist who specializes in the odd and peculiar things in life. She approaches her material with a childlike wonder, whether in book form, on stage, online or in movies. Me and You and Everyone We Know is her first feature and it’s a rapturous event that had me feeling alive, hopeful, and just fuzzy all over.

Within 15 minutes, you’ll know if this film is going to work for you or not. But if you stick with it, you may find yourself sort of falling in love with these characters, including July as a cab driver for the elderly who likes to meddle in her passengers’ lives. She’s also a performance artist who merges multimedia platforms to create love as art. She has an emotional connection with a local shoe salesman (the great John Hawkes, in a complete 180 from his sinister-creepy turn in the recent Martha Marcy May Marlene), who is sort of going through a mid-life shake-up of his own. His two young boys, meanwhile, are looking for love in all of the wrong places (they engage in an online chat with an anonymous woman about, of all things, poop). The older brother donates his body for “science” as he allows two girls to practice their oral sex skills on him. Those girls, by the way, are oddly entranced by a neighbor who happens to be a wanna-be pedophile.

The film may sound raunchy or hardcore but it’s far from it, really. It’s just odd and precious, gentle and sweet, random and just a little bit dirty. Most of all, it’s simply enchanting. It resonated with me. Me and You and Everyone We Know is a one of a kind, and I’m certain I’ll never see anything quite like it.

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (2006)

PLOT

Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) is the leading journalist in his hometown of Kazakhstan. He is assigned by his country’s government the task of documenting American society and culture. His journey begins in New York City, where he discovers the beauty that is Pamela Anderson and makes it his quest to find her, marry her, and make explosion on her stomach. To say more than that does the film an injustice.

WHY I LOVE IT

For starters, it’s one of the funniest comedies of the decade. The film had me in stitches from beginning to end. Wall to wall laughs. But it isn’t just the jokes that made this film a winner for me. It is Cohen’s innate ability to weave a cohesive, albeit ridiculous, story around his unscripted adventures of public embarrassment. I literally had no idea where Cohen was going to go next with this film; he kept one-upping himself with outrageously lewd and audacious set-pieces that shine a light on America’s ignorance. This is who we are, people. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s funny because we know people who act this way. There are homophobes, racists and bigots running rampant in the dark corners of our country and Sacha Baron Cohen aims to flush them out. Is this film mean-spirited? I don’t think so. It’s about ignorance, not maliciousness. Borat is blatantly homophobic, but yet he doesn’t even know what the term means. By the way, the physical imagery of Cohen and his manager (played by heavyset Ken Davitian) in a nude wrestling match is something I’ll never get to erase from my mind, for better or worse.

To date, this is Cohen’s best work. Da Ali G Show had big laughs, but they were far too sporadic. Bruno was a pretty weak attempt to mimic Borat‘s success using a similar plot structure. His latest, The Dictator, is the best thing Cohen has done since Borat and yet it’s completely different. Cohen is a smart comedian. He’s a gifted satirist, voice artist and writer. Not all of his jokes land smoothly, but the man gets my respect for always swinging for the fences.

ALWAYS (1989)

PLOT

Pete (Richard Dreyfuss) and Dorinda (Holly Hunter) love each other dearly. He is a dare-devil fire-fighter pilot and she is the radio controller who guides him from the ground. When Pete dies suddenly, Dorinda has a tough time moving on. He watches over her in the form of a guardian angel as she picks up the pieces. Based on the 1943 film, A Guy Named Joe, a movie Spielberg and Dreyfuss discussed at length during their filming of Jaws.

WHY I LOVED IT

Always is Steven Spielberg’s most underappreciated film. I never thought he had it in him to create a genuinely moving love story about two soul mates who had to move on from each other. (Clint Eastwood also proved me wrong with his own wonderful three-hankie romantic drama, The Bridges of Madison County, not long after this one). Before Pete’s untimely death (beautifully executed, by the way, resulting in a mesmerizing close-up of his buddy Al [John Goodman] in complete horror), Pete and Dorinda were just getting the hang of their unusual but magnetic partnership. It’s clear that they adore each other. In one magnificent scene, brilliantly staged by Spielberg and scripted by Jerry Belson, Pete gives Dorinda a beautiful dress for her birthday. They are in a bar with greasy mechanics and pilots, the least romantic setting possible, and she just melts. “You like it?” he asks. She replies, “It’s not the dress… It’s the way you see me.” She puts on the dress and everyone in the bar stops what they are doing and immediately asks for permission to dance with her. It’s the kind of scene that only happens in the movies but, wow, what a magical moment. This scene alone features Holly Hunter’s best performance.

Dreyfuss is right at home in this film too, perfectly executing his bewilderment as he learns he is dead and has to endure the torment of watching his soul mate attempt to move on from him. John Goodman has a great, showy role as Pete and Dorinda’s best friend who has his own grief issues to tend to. And I can’t not mention the beauty that is Audrey Hepburn in her final role. As Hap, Pete’s very own guardian, Hepburn is radiance personified.

Always is funny, heartbreaking (“Hey, pal, that’s my girl.”) and gorgeously filmed on airstrips and base stations. I love everything about this movie. It may not be Spielberg’s crowning achievement, but it’s one of his more delightful efforts.

Monday Movie Showcase is a venue in which I showcase my favorite movies on, um, Mondays. To kick off this new running feature on Flickers, I’m dedicating the first post to the late, great Tony Scott.

TRUE ROMANCE (1993)

PLOT

Some dude named Clarence (Christian Slater) spontaneously marries a hooker named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), and together, they steal her pimp’s cocaine in an attempt to distribute it in Hollywood and live like kings.

WHY I LOVE IT

Where do I begin? Well, first, it’s Tony Scott’s best film. Bar none. He takes Quentin Tarantino’s pitch-perfect script and delivers a unique vision of not-so-innocent lovers on the run from dangerously seedy people. Scott takes these colorful, lively characters and animates them with verve and pulpy electricity. And it is these characters we’ve come to know and love that makes True Romance a genuine keeper. Clarence and Alabama are sexy, loose and flawed. We care for them, we sense their danger.

Slater and Arquette are supported by a remarkable cast of giants delivering some of their very best work. Who can forget Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken discussing the origins of Sicilian blood? Who can forget James Gandolfini beating the living crap out of Arquette, only to have the tables turned on him? Who can forget Bronson Pinchot getting caught with a faceful of cocaine? Who can forget Gary Oldman losing his balls? Who can forget Brad Pitt lighting a toke and owning a scene that would be so inconsequential in any other film? Who can forget Michael Rappaport so barely escaping death in a major shootout?

True Romance is kinetic fun, a violently stylish thriller that proved the talents of both Tarantino and Scott. Both filmmakers have made bigger movies that cast a larger shadow over their careers, but this one was proof that these guys were truly experts in their craft.