10 Things I Hate About You - Mandella and Chastity

10 Things I Hate About You holds a very special place in my nostalgic teenage heart. Starring Julia Stiles and the late Heath Ledger, with a brilliant cameo by the incomparable Allison Janney, this film is simply brilliant. A modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, this movie definitely falls under the category of rom-com, while it is a teen movie. I'll also say it is a chick flick - I don't care if I did most recently watch it with my good (male) friend Tony. He doesn't have a very discerning taste in movies. Anyway, on to the analysis! One could argue that this movie has an ensemble cast, and as such, I am covering two beta friends of distinct purpose and disposition.


Our first beta-friend is Mandella, the spacey, Shakespeare-obsessed best friend of Kat (Julia Stiles). Played by the elfin Susan May Pratt, she's a hopeless romantic stuck in the 21st century. We see very little of her, but I always enjoy her when she's on screen. From gazing longingly at a portait of Billy Shakespeare taped in her locker, to humoring Kat's latest stance against high school functions, Mandella seems so much more laid back than Kat. She's a great beta in this way, as her presence lightens the mood of the movie. So, even as she sighs over her lack of a date for prom, we know she'll be alright. And if you keep watching past the credits, you'll witness a very steamy kiss between her and Michael, which, by the way, I added to her screen time in the stats below.

Stats:
Screen time: 3 minutes and 30 seconds
Snappy quips: "More than a fan - we're involved." "Oh goody something new and different for us."

Next we have Chastity (Gabrielle Union), beta to Bianca (Larissa Oleynik). Here we have our classic, ditsy frenemy. For the most part, she and Bianca talk about clothes and boys and parties. The faces Chastity makes are simply diabolical, and speak volumes more about the character than any of her dialogue. While we saw some glimmerings of Chastity's underhanded and social climbing ways at Bogie Lowenstien's party, it's not until Chastity runs into Bianca in the ladies room at the prom (oh yes, even this quality film had the requisite bathroom scene) that we can truly appreciate the full force of her frenemy powers. The fact that her revelations inspire Bianca to beat the crap out of Joey Donner really just goes to show how awesome this movie is.

Stats:
Screen time: 4 minutes and 15 seconds
Snappy quips: "I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?" Also, have you ever seen more amazing eyebrow action?

I swear it's purely a coincidence that I chose to do beta-friend analysis of this movie this week... I was not at all inspired by ABC Family's tv series by the same name which is starting it's second season this week. Which I kind of love. Mostly because the new Kat and Patrick have great chemistry. And the new Mandella isn't a toothpick!