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Review Entertainment in Video  / Run, Fat Boy, Run [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Merchant
  • Hank Azaria
  • Simon Pegg
  • Thandie Newton
  • David Schwimmer
  • Dylan Moran
Release date: 2008-02-18
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.24

Review Run, Fat Boy, Run [2007] / Entertainment in Video:

Simon Pegg is clearly, right now, someone who can do little wrong at the box office. Run Fatboy Run follows hot on the heels of Hot Fuzz, and again finds its star delivering a quality comedy turn, in a film that boasts a good few laughs too. Directed by Friends star David Schwimmer, Run Fatboy Run casts Pegg as a security guard fed up of being outrun by the people he's supposed to catch. He's also determined to try and prove to his ex-fiancee (Thandie Newton) that he's a changed man, and thus decides to take on the London Marathon, where he'll be up against the new man in her life (Hank Azaria). Pegg is on good form in Run Fatboy Run, and genuinely delivers a character you want to root for. Yet it's the supporting players who walk off with the plaudits too. Dylan Moran in particular is in great form, as is Harish Patel, while the likes of Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria and David Walliams also turn in good work. Cleverly knowing not to outstay its welcome, and only occasionally stuttering under the weight of some laboured work behind the camera from Schwimmer, Run Fatboy Run is an easy, quite funny and light on the brain comedy, that helps cement Pegg's growing status as a quality leading actor. Worth checking out. -Jon Foster.

Review Universal Pictures UK  / Notting Hill [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Roger Michell
  • Rhys Ifans
  • Richard McCabe
  • Julia Roberts
  • Hugh Grant
  • James Dreyfus
Release date: 1999-11-15
Run time: 119 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.30

Review Notting Hill [1999] / Universal Pictures UK:

They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore-blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meeting involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer. ) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfilment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. [+]
With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. -Mark Englehart.

Review The Little Mermaid  / The Little Mermaid 3: Ariels Beginning [2008] Release date: 2008-09-22
Run time: 67 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £11.98

Review The Little Mermaid 3: Ariels Beginning [2008] / The Little Mermaid:


Review Universal Pictures UK  / Last of the Summer Wine Series 11 & 12
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Sallis
  • Bill Owen
  • Michael Aldridge
Release date: 2008-09-22
RRP: £24.99
Price: £13.00

Review Last of the Summer Wine Series 11 & 12 / Universal Pictures UK:


Review 2 Entertain Video  / Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister: Complete BBC Box Set
Actors & Directors
  • Nigel Hawthorne
  • Derek Fowlds
  • Paul Eddington
Release date: 2006-10-16
Run time: 1140 min.
RRP: £49.99
Price: £17.98

Review Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister: Complete BBC Box Set / 2 Entertain Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video  / Dad's Army : The Complete BBC Collection Release date: 2007-10-29
RRP: £99.99
Price: £37.39

Review Dad's Army : The Complete BBC Collection / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Channel 4 DVD  / Peep Show Series 5 [2008]
Actors & Directors
  • Matt King
  • Becky Martin
  • David Mitchell
  • Robert Webb
  • Rachel Blanchard
  • Olivia Colman
Release date: 2008-06-16
Run time: 180 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £7.19

Review Peep Show Series 5 [2008] / Channel 4 DVD:

The multi award-winning and critically acclaimed comedy returns to DVD for a fifth series. Peep Show continues to delve into the innermost thoughts of Mark (David Mitchell) - the conventional one seething with inner rages and desires - and Jeremy (Robert Webb) - the loose cannon full of expressed rages and desires - but seething with even more rage on the inside. Mark and Jeremy are entering their 30s with failed marriages behind them, few prospects, and a sense of impending crisis. Time is running out for them to sort out their lives. Jeremy's mother appears on the scene and it soon becomes clear why he's ended up as he is. Mark goes speed dating, and discovers money can buy you love. Jeremy and Superhans (Matt King) play at a Christian Rock Festival; the flat suffers multiple burglaries and the boys endure their worst ever night out - at the theatre. Extras: BEHIND THE SCENES with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong guiding you through the production process, from how they get ideas for the series, read throughs and rehearsals with cast, to shooting on set and on location to the final product! PEEP SHOW RELATIONSHIP TREE - your guide to whose slept with whom throughout all the Peep Show series'… this is a trip through Mark and Jeremy's love lives throughout series 1-5, with clips and graphics to explain the various connections! DELETED SCENES SOPHIE'S POV - existing scenes from episode 6 written by Sam and Jesse from Sophie's point of view.

Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm  / Cool Runnings [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • John Candy
  • Malik Yoba
  • Doug E. Doug
  • Leon
  • Jon Turteltaub
  • Rawle D. Lewis
Release date: 2004-04-19
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.80

Review Cool Runnings [1994] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:

Based on an improbable but true story, Cool Runnings concerns the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even seen snow) and the passion behind it (their desire to compete and win). John Candy, in one of his last roles, is touching as a disgraced coach who seizes the opportunity to work with the Jamaicans as a chance for redemption. The bobsled scenes look good and the races are exciting. The climax, which is entirely unexpected, takes the film to a wholly different level, even if events in the story don't quite match the facts. -Tom Keogh.

Review Network  / Pokemon - The Rise Of Darkrai [2007] Release date: 2008-09-29
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £7.99

Review Pokemon - The Rise Of Darkrai [2007] / Network:


Review Universal Pictures Video  / The Holiday [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Kate Winslet
  • Jack Black
  • Jude Law
  • Nancy Meyers
  • Cameron Diaz
Release date: 2007-03-26
Run time: 130 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.27

Review The Holiday [2006] / Universal Pictures Video:

As a pleasant dose of holiday cheer, The Holiday is a lovable love story with all the Christmas trimmings. In the capable hands of writer-director Nancy Meyers (making her first romantic comedy since Something's Gotta Give), it all begins when two successful yet unhappy women connect through a home-swapping website, and decide to trade houses for the Christmas holiday in a mutual effort to forget their man troubles. Iris (Kate Winslet) is a London-based journalist who lives in a picture-postcard cottage in Surrey, and Amanda (Cameron Diaz) owns a movie-trailer production company (leading her to cutely imagine most of her life as a "coming attraction") and lives in a posh mansion in Beverly Hills. Iris is heartbroken from unrequited love with a cad of a colleague (Rufus Sewell), and Amanda has just broken up with her cheating boyfriend (Edward Burns), so their home-swapping offers mutual downtime to reassess their love lives. This being a Nancy Meyers movie (where everything is fabulously decorated and romantic wish-fulfillment is virtually guaranteed), Amanda hooks up with Iris's charming brother Graham (Jude Law), and Iris is unexpectedly smitten with Miles (Jack Black), a super-nice film composer on the downside of a failing relationship. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Momentum Pictures Home Ent  / Doc Martin - Series 3 - Complete
Actors & Directors
  • Minkie Spiro
  • Joe Absolom
  • Ben Bolt
  • Lucy Punch
  • Carol Catz
  • Martin Clunes
  • Stephanie Cole
Release date: 2008-02-18
Run time: 372 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.09

Review Doc Martin - Series 3 - Complete / Momentum Pictures Home Ent:

The adventures of Doctor Martin Ellingham-more commonly known as Doc Martin-have proven to be one of ITV's most popular hits of recent years. And within this series three DVD set, you've got plenty of evidence as to why. For newcomers, Doc Martin, played with effortless skill by Martin Clunes, is a surgeon based in a small Cornish village. But it's not his direct, blunt manner that proves to be his only problem. No, the issue too is that the Doc has a phobia of blood. It's not the handiest problem for a Doctor to have, but it does allow Doc Martin to mix in good chunks of comedy alongside its drama. The third season of the show, spread across three discs in this set, finds it in terrific form. Boasting a strong cast, with Caroline Catz's Louisa. Stephanie Cole's Joan and Joe Absolom's Al among the standouts, Doc Martin's popularity is easy to understand. Because not only is the acting terrific, and Clunes must really take the plaudits too, but the scripts are of consistent quality. [+]
It should be noted that the end of the third series was the cause of some debate among fans, although this reviewer was certainly impressed by it. But what's less up for debate is that Doc Martin is one of the best mainstream dramas British television has thrown up in recent years, and that this DVD set offers some super entertainment. -Jon Foster.

Review Uca  / The Blues Brothers [1980]
Actors & Directors
  • John Candy
  • Charles Napier
  • John Landis
  • John Landis
  • Pee-Wee Herman
  • John Belushi
Release date: 2003-08-11
Run time: 127 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.31

Review The Blues Brothers [1980] / Uca:

After building up the duo's popularity through popular recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd-as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues-took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God", and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise, this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

Review Universal Pictures Video  / Knocked Up [2007]
Actors & Directors
  • Jay Baruchel
  • Jonah Hill
  • Judd Apatow
  • Paul Rudd
  • Katherine Heigl
  • Martin Starr
Release date: 2007-12-26
Run time: 124 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.45

Review Knocked Up [2007] / Universal Pictures Video:

In a year that otherwise struggled to deliver where comedies were concerned, Knocked Up proved to be a very welcome treasure trove of laughs. It's from Judd Apatow, the man behind The 40 Year Old Virgin and the excellent TV show Freaks and Geeks, and sits easily as an equal to both. It's also a long-awaited showcase for the talents of Seth Rogen, who proves with some conviction that he can headline a movie. The premise of Knocked Up is simple. Seth Rogen and Kathryn Heigl share, for differing reasons, a one-night stand, and several weeks later, the latter discovers she's pregnant. Given that Rogen's character has been jobless for years, and that Heigl is trying to build a TV career, the two don't prove to be a logical match, yet as the pregnancy progresses, they try valiantly to get to know one another. The narrative itself is quite straightforward, but it's the execution and characters that lift it significantly. Apatow knows how to direct comedy, and with a script peppered with plenty of guffaw-out-loud moments and situations, he wrings very hearty laughs from the material. Plus, while its Rogen and Heigl who power the film, the supporting cast is simply superb, particularly the collection of people that Rogen's character surrounds himself with. It's perhaps guilty of running ten minutes too long, and there's little to surprise in the story itself, yet Knocked Up is nonetheless a terrific, earthy and grounded comedy, with so much to enjoy. [+]
It's hard to single out individual moments, and instead it simply seems more appropriate to declare Knocked Up as one of the best, and most rewatchable, comedies of the last few years. Don't miss it. -Simon Brew.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment  / Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging [2008]
Actors & Directors
  • Sean Bourke
  • Tommy Bastow
  • Georgia Groome
  • Liam Hess
  • Gurinder Chadha
Release date: 2008-12-08
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £10.98

Review Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging [2008] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review 2 Entertain Video  / Coupling: Complete BBC Series 1-4 Box Set (Special Collectors Edition) [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Jack Davenport
  • Sarah Alexander
  • Richard Coyle
  • Kate Isitt
  • Gina Bellman
Release date: 2007-10-08
RRP: £49.99
Price: £14.96

Review Coupling: Complete BBC Series 1-4 Box Set (Special Collectors Edition) [2000] / 2 Entertain Video:

This witty, instantly addictive British series could also be called Chaps or Squelchy in the City. Coupling charts the tangled sex lives of a close-knit group comprising "exes and best friends": womanizer Jack, hapless nice guy Steve, "strange and disturbing" Jeff, uninhibited Susan, neurotic Sally, and manipulative Jane. Coupling may inspire feelings of déjà-vu. The obvious frame of reference is Friends (Steve and Susan are the Ross-Rachel equivalent), but this series also echoes Seinfeld in its coinage of catch-phrases (although it's doubtful that "the boyfriend zone" will replace "master of your domain") and plotlines (in episode one, Steve tries to dump Jane, who refuses to accept). But Coupling has its own fresh and provocative takes on relationships. At one point, a furious Susan discovers that Patrick not only had a videotape of the former couple having sex, but that he also taped over her. In Steven Moffat's second season, there's a brilliant consolidation of all the neuroses, small deceits, obsessions, and personality ticks that struck such a resonant chord when Steve, Susan, and their four friends were first unleashed on us. The success of this is due to the magical combination of Moffat's very funny scripts and the talents of six extremely likeable actors, including Jack Davenport (Steve) and Sarah Alexander (Susan). But it's Richard Coyle's Jeff whose sexual fantasies exert a compelling fascination that will really keep you watching in disbelief. Breasts, bottoms and pants are the basis for most of the conversational analysis when these friends get together as a group, as couples, as girlfriends, or as mates, invariably becoming metaphors for the state of a relationship or situation. [+]
Individual viewpoints and terrors are explored through respective memories of the same event and what-if scenarios. Chain reactions inevitably ensue, fuelling comedy that is based almost entirely on misunderstanding. The third series, first aired in 2002, takes fans into new realms of engaging surrealism. The men are constantly in pursuit of a basic grasp of the "emotional things" that make women behave the way they do. The women analyze everything to death. But again thanks to Steve Moffat's scripts, tighter and quirkier than ever, these characters are living, breathing human beings rather than cynical ciphers for comedy stereotypes. The performances are as strong as you'd expect from an established team, with actors such as Jack Davenport, Ben Miles (unreconstructed chauvinist Patrick), Sarah Alexander, and Kate Isitt (neurotic Sally) wearing their roles like second skins. But in the surreal stakes, it's Richard Coyle as Jeff, wondering aloud what happens to jelly after women have finished wrestling in it, and Gina Bellman as Jane, musing on the importance of a first snog in identifying what men like to eat, who really raise the laughter levels. All things considered, this is superior comedy for all thirtysomethings-genuine and putative. Then we get to series four - feel free to insert your own "four-play" joke, or for that matter, your own "insert" jokes! Sex is still topic one for the intertwined group of "exes and best friends," but in this pivotal season there are momentous "relationship issues" that will upend all their lives (insert your own "upend" joke while you're at it). Susan is pregnant, inspiring nightmares in Steve about his own execution and unflattering comparisons of the birth process to John Hurt's iconic gut-busting scene in Alien. Missing in action is the Kramer-esque Jeff (although he makes something of a return in the season finale). Joining the ensemble is Oliver, who is more in the Chandler mode as a lovable loser with the ladies. These inevitable comparisons to "Sein-Friends" are no doubt heresy to Coupling's most devoted viewers. Indeed, this series does benefit from creator and sole writer Steven Moffat's comic voice and vision. He provides his ever-game cast some witty, funny-'cause-it's-true dialogue, as in Oliver's observation that "Tea isn't compatible with porn. " A bonus disc takes viewers behind the scenes with segments devoted to bloopers and interviews with cast and crew. This Britcom is less inhibited in language and sexual situations than its American counterparts. In the cleverly-constructed opening episode, in which the same "9-1/2 Minutes" are witnessed from three different perspectives, Sally and Jane can do what was left to the imagination when Monica and Rachel offered to make out in front of Joey and Chandler. The birth of Susan and Steven's baby ends the six-episode fourth season on a satisfying and surprisingly moving grace note. Plot Synopsis: On average, men and women think about sex every six seconds. Shorten that to every second, and you've got Coupling. It's more than just a one night stand! When a couple gets together, it's never just the two of them - they also bring baggage - and Susan (Sarah Alexander) and Steve (Jack Davenport) are no exception. Their baggage is a crowd of best friends and exes who talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love. Coupling has been honoured with the prestigious Silver Rose of Montreux, Best TV Comedy Award, and was a winner at the 2003 British Comedy Awards.

Review Warner Home Video  / Two And A Half Men - Series 4 Release date: 2008-10-06
Run time: 500 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £15.98

Review Two And A Half Men - Series 4 / Warner Home Video:


Review Universal Pictures UK  / Definitely, Maybe [2008]
Actors & Directors
  • Isla Fisher
  • Elizabeth Banks
  • Ryan Reynolds
  • Rachel Weisz
  • Adam Brooks
Release date: 2008-06-16
Run time: 107 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £5.98

Review Definitely, Maybe [2008] / Universal Pictures UK:

The latest romantic comedy from the Working Title production line, Definitely, Maybe got a little forgotten on its original cinematic release in early 2008. Yet beneath the covers here is a smart, enjoyable film, that does Ryan Reynolds' potential as a romantic lead no harm whatsoever. The story of Definitely, Maybe is mainly told in flashback, as Reynolds' daughter in the film (played by Little Miss Sunshine's Abigal Breslin) quizzes him as to how he met his mother, who he's in the process of getting a divorce from. Reynolds' tale follows three failed romances, and the film holds back on revealing the answer to its mysteries until pretty much the final reel. Deftly written and directed by Adam Brooks (who previously had scribing credits on Practical Magic, Wimbledon and Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, among others), Definitely, Maybe has several factors in its corner. Firstly, the script is witty, well layered, and engaging. Secondly, the casting is good, too. Reynolds is in good form here, and Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz turn in fine performances as the three women in his life. And finally, while only slightly outstaying its welcome, Definitely, Maybe achieves a satisfying balance of wit and romance, and then manages to squeeze in a great Kevin Kline cameo on top. Can't be bad. [+]
It may not be talked about in the same breath as other Working Title successes such as Notting Hill and Love Actually, yet Definitely, Maybe is very worthy of DVD discovery. With good rewatch value too, it's a recommended buy. -Simon Brew.

Review 2 Entertain Video  / Blackadder: Complete Collection - BBC Series 1-4 & The Specials
Actors & Directors
  • Tim McInnerny
  • Mandie Fletcher
  • Martin Shardlow
  • Tony Robinson
  • Richard Boden
  • Rowan Atkinson
  • Brian Blessed
  • Stephen Fry
Release date: 2005-10-03
RRP: £59.99
Price: £24.48

Review Blackadder: Complete Collection - BBC Series 1-4 & The Specials / 2 Entertain Video:

One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Mr Bean triumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury - a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch-smellers (who root out spell-makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favour from mad Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund - like his ancestor - can never quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson, Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger. With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is a career army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. [+]
No small mention can be made of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny. -Tom Keogh.

Review Channel 4 DVD  / Skins 1 & 2 Box Set [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Harry Enfield
  • Nicholas Hoult
  • Danny Dyer
  • April Pearson
Release date: 2008-05-05
Run time: 750 min.
RRP: £39.99
Price: £17.00

Review Skins 1 & 2 Box Set [2006] / Channel 4 DVD:


Review Touchstone Home Video  / 10 Things I Hate About You [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Gil Junger
  • Julia Stiles
  • Heath Ledger
  • Larry Miller
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt
  • Larisa Oleynik
Release date: 2001-01-08
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.74

Review 10 Things I Hate About You [1999] / Touchstone Home Video:

It's, like, Shakespeare, man! This good-natured and likeable update of The Taming of the Shrew takes the basics of Shakespeare's farce about a surly wench and the man who tries to win her and transfers it to modern-day Padua High School. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is a sullen, forbidding riot grrrl who has a blistering word for everyone; her sunny younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) is poised for high school stardom. The problem: overprotective and paranoid Papa Stratford (a dryly funny Larry Miller) won't let Bianca date until boy-hating Kat does, which is to say never. When Bianca's pining suitor Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets wind of this, he hires the mysterious, brooding Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to loosen Kat up. Of course, what starts out as a paying gig turns to true love as Patrick discovers that underneath her brittle exterior, Kat is a regular babe. The script, by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is sitcom-funny with peppy one-liners and lots of smart teenspeak; however, its cleverness and imagination doesn't really extend beyond its characters' Renaissance names and occasional snippets of real Shakespearean dialogue. What makes the movie energetic and winning is the formula that helped make She's All That such a big hit: two high-wattage stars who look great and can really act. Ledger is a hunk of promise with a quick grin and charming Aussie accent and Stiles mines Kat's bitterness and anger to depths usually unknown in teen films; her recitation of her English class sonnet (from which the film takes its title) is funny, heartbreaking and hopelessly romantic. The imperious Allison Janney (Primary Colors) nearly steals the film as a no-nonsense guidance counsellor secretly writing a trashy romance novel. -Mark Englehart.

Browse Comedy:

Models & Brands:
Run, Fat Boy, Run [2007], Notting Hill [1999], The Little Mermaid 3: Ariels Beginning [2008], Last of the Summer Wine Series 11 & 12, Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister: Complete BBC Box Set, Dad's Army : The Complete BBC Collection, Peep Show Series 5 [2008], Cool Runnings [1994], Pokemon - The Rise Of Darkrai [2007], The Holiday [2006], Doc Martin - Series 3 - Complete, The Blues Brothers [1980], Knocked Up [2007], Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging [2008], Coupling: Complete BBC Series 1-4 Box Set (Special Collectors Edition) [2000], Two And A Half Men - Series 4, Definitely, Maybe [2008], Blackadder: Complete Collection - BBC Series 1-4 & The Specials, Skins 1 & 2 Box Set [2006], 10 Things I Hate About You [1999]

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