Video Commentary

Brush Up Your Shakespeare (And More)

The best teen Shakespeare and classic lit movies -- Why you should forget ''She's the Man'' and rent ''Clueless''

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By Michael Sauter

The Twelfth Night-inspired She's the Man is the latest teen DVD based on classic lit. Below, five way-better pics.

CLUELESS (1995)
Amy Heckerling's clever update of Jane Austen's Emma effortlessly shifts the tale to the dating (and shopping) rituals of '90s teens. What really puts the zing in this comedy of MTV manners is Alicia Silverstone's beguiling, lightning-bolt performance as dizzy Beverly Hills princess Cher.

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999)
As Kat Stratford (get it?), Julia Stiles is a post-grunge version of The Taming of the Shrew's Katherine, mouthing off to arrogant jocks and annoying geeks with equally nasty attitude. Heath Ledger's hunky Patrick Verona doesn't so much tame her as merely keep up.

CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999)
The aristocratic vipers of Dangerous Liaisons set in a modern-day Manhattan private school? Deliciously wicked — especially Sarah Michelle Gellar, as a spoiled-rotten vixen plotting the deflowering of virginal classmate Reese Witherspoon just 'cause she can.

SHE'S ALL THAT (1999)
Hotshot jock converts artsy bespectacled nerd into a girlfriend fit to be prom queen. But what's great about this zillionth Pygmalion update is how Rachael Leigh Cook's schlumpy Laney swannishly blossoms. The magic isn't in the obligatory makeover; it's in Cook's glowy inner light.

O (2001)
High school proves a too-apt place for an Othello update: As we watch coach's son Hugo (Josh Hartnett) orchestrate the tragic downfall of star basketball player Odin (Mekhi Phifer), knowing how it will turn out doesn't lessen the impact of seeing young lives ending, one after another.

Posted Jul 21, 2006 | Published in issue #888 Jul 28, 2006 | Order Article Reprints