I have such a soft spot fort his movie and I suspect I always will. Is it silly and stupid in a frothy, vaguely insulting way that a lot of 90's/2000's teen comedies were? Yes of course. Does it manage to sneak in a surprising amount of innuendo and clever sight gags, some of which I did not even notice until this viewing? Yes! It is completely unrealistic as towards how high school and teenagers even function in the interest of adapting Shakespeare's super problematic The Taming of the Shrew to a contemporary high school setting? YESSSS. Let's dive in.
First of all this guy, who you may remember plays the exasperated English teacher, has the word "Chill", in quotes, in his name. This is excellent and I fully support more people embracing an adjective describing their personality as the filling in their name sandwich.
Second, THIS IS SCHOOL. No. NO. NO!
Somehow I have watched this movie probably a dozen times and NEVER noticed that the "town" they live in is Padua or at least the school has the named Padua plastered all over despite the acting seeming to take place in what looks like northern California or possibly Seattle. I think this can probably be attributed to my lazy watching and not the film being particularly subtle because once I noticed it I realized that they reference being in "Padua" multiple times.
Baby Joseph Gordon-Levitt, post-Third Rock from the Sun and pre-Mysterious Skin/Brick! Not-so-baby faced or believably a high school student Heath Ledger! (But he's gorgeous in this film so we allow it.)
Okay my main takeaway from Alison Janney's very wacky role as the erotica-writing guidance counselor besides how much she is NAILING it is that this sentence which very much seems to be in media res is the first one on the document (although perhaps the novel has pages preceding it we can't see) and the other is that she has saved/titled the document with only her last name, Perky, which to me seems almost (ALMOST) as weird as writing erotica while on the job, with CHILDREN around. Just kidding this is obviously the weirder part. Oh, the 90's, when things like this joke were somehow still acceptable... What a weird decade.
Larry Miller as the restrictive, anxious, helicoptering single father is maybe my favorite performance in this film. He plays the role with the perfect amount of unhinged glee and neuroses and it makes me fucking laugh every time.
Fun fact: Heath Ledger's long-suffering punk friend in the film who is not given any lines nor much to do except try to rein in Ledger's anarchic tendencies is named "Scurvy". SCURVY. SCURVY!!!!! And they never ONCE reference that in the movie. How can you keep an amazing detail like that from us, movie? Shame on you.
And while we're here, looking at this improbable set being played by Letters to Cleo on the roof the fucking CASTLE that is their school (and it was only on this viewing that I realized that not only this a castle but it is sitting directly on the coast meaning there is no WAY this is a public school, like this is without a doubt a school for the richest of rich kids in the greater Seattle area)... let's look at some more of the credits.
Again, the 90's were a different time. A time when even the credits had no issue with bullying and labeling various background characters as "wimpy loser", "laughing loser", "crying loser", and "screaming loser". These are referring to the guys that JGL and Nu3mbers guy initially round of to try and date Julia Stiles' "shrew" Katarina Stratford.
Also, this guy is given the last name Donner. Which until this viewing I never though about the implications of this choice. But now I can't unsee.
Also: this actor went on to start a new religion (cult).
Again, something I never noticed until this viewing is just how much the character of "Bogey" is OBVIOUSLY played by like an adult man and all of his friends in the background are actual children. Look at the kid on the left! He looks like he stole his dad's clothes and briefcase and is playing dress-ups!! The actor is Kyle Crease and according to his IMDB page he was born in 1977 which would make him in his early 20's around the time they made this but GOOD LORD does he look significantly older than every single actor playing a student and some of the teachers too.
I do love both of their performances in this so much.
So many issues with this. Can you imagine if someone threw a stack of papers advertising "free beer" down a stairwell in an American school today? First of all, detention for making a huge mess and wasting school resources. Although considering the sick amounts of cash this obviously private school has and considering it is LITERALLY A CASTLE BY THE SEA maybe not that big of a deal. Second of all, surely this is illegal on multiple counts? I mean they pretend to be Bogey and essentially start a chain of events which ends in the destruction of his house. Third of all, you can still clearly see his old poster beneath the "party" and "free beer" they pasted on top. Look at the left side of the black box behind party. Fourth of all, when we see Bogey's party before it is invading by a marauding horde of teenagers there are like, five guests. Why in the ever-loving fuck would you make a poster when you're having a small get-together with the only people who are your friends [seemingly, according to the rules of clique warfare as defined by Teen Movie Law Section 5, Clause 2A]? Fifth of all, are you really going to tell me that in a school full of teenagers fucking NO ONE BRINGS THIS UP TO BOGEY?! And he somehow magically doesn't find any of these flyers beforehand and calls the cops? Sixth of all, there are literally zero consequences for this action for our vindictive supporting character, the alarmingly deep-voiced high schooler Michael Eckman (played by David Krumholtz). Look, I know this movie is almost 20 years old and again, the 90's were a different time but I feel like these are all very important questions.
I did always love this shot and the choice of music that goes along with it. Very atmospheric.
Again, he went on to start a "new religion". How much of this is a performance?
Okay now I KNOW this was filmed in Seattle since it features the Fremont Troll.
MAYHEM. FUCKING SUE THE SHIT OUT OF THEM, BOGEY!
David "Chill" Mitchel aka along with Larry Miller one of the funniest parts of this film.
Iconic.
That dress is peak 90's and fucking hideous.
Very good punching face.
Sorry but no to this argument being resolved with the purchase of a nice guitar. Which Katarina says and then goes back on because despite her attempts at being a feminist (or at least a cliche of a feminist, which in the filmmaker's mind is the same as a shrew? very cool politics happening in this film) by just rolling her eyes and making out with her cute boyfriend who is essentially a gigolo (he was paid to date her, no?). But he sure is dreamy. Sigh.
NO.
Sigh.
Fine, whatever movie. I still love you despite your pretty problematic 90's attitude and cliche-riddled, plot hole having messiness. At least you're not yet another fucking misguided attempt to make Romeo and Juliet into some epic love story instead of what it is, a story of teenage idiots who die pointlessly.
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