Can't Hardly Wait Movie Review

Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

Rent Can't Hardly Wait on Amazon Video
Written by: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont
Directed by: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, Sean Patrick Thomas, Freddy Rodriguez, Donald Faison, Jaime Pressly, Jason Segel, Clea DuVall, Selma Blair, Jenna Elfman, Melissa Joan Hart, Jerry O'Connell
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Multi-character teenage comedy about high school graduates each with a different agenda on graduation night.

Verdict
An underrated teen party movie that avoids the shallowness typical of the genre. Multiple stories with great characters thread throughout. It goes beyond stereotypes to create people you knew in high school or maybe the person you were. It's not a crazy party movie, but a feel good nostalgia fueled high school story. Few movies capture the nostalgia of high school graduation through rose tinted glasses so perfectly.
Watch it.

Review
I watched this movie soon after it released to video. That's been a while but I always remembered this as really good high school fantasy. It's wish fulfillment with how everything works out so perfectly. The jerk jock gets a comeuppance, the smart, unassuming kid gets the girl, and the nerd gets a few social victories.
This is the perspective of someone long past high school, looking back on it with a deep fondness. While this may not be the reality of high school for many, it's an entertaining movie that's difficult to dislike. I wondered if my feelings from twenty years ago, and this movie, held up. Both do.

Seth Green plays Kenny.

Graduating high school is such a big deal at the time, though in retrospect it's not. This movie feeds into the idea of how life altering an event graduation is. This movie captures that nostalgia perfectly.
It's funny and poignant with a a few interweaving story lines. I can't help but quote Kenny while mimicking his intonation. He's a poser, adopting urban fashion and speech. This movie has all of these different stereotypical high schoolers plotting the night of this movie, but the movie develops them into more than just stereotypes. There's the every-man and main character Preston, his anti-social best friend Denise, the hot girl Amanda, the jock Mike, the nerds, the stoners, and many more. Everyone is at one big party.

The movie is narrow minded at times and a few homophobic slurs reinforce that. Those parts haven't aged well and the movie isn't very inclusive which is unfortunate. It's something that stands out twenty years later.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Amanda.

Preston just wants to confess his love to a crush that never knew he existed. This is his last chance before he leaves for the summer. Various plots unfurl and overlap. It's coincidental, but that's part of the movie's charm. It's almost silly, but it's fun. The characters are what ground the movie.

Jerry O'Connell plays Trip McNeilly.

There's a poignant moment where high school legend Trip McNeilly shows up at the party. This is a college guy that probably shouldn't be at the party. He reveals some truth to the jock antagonist Mike. There's a lot between the lines with Trip. Trip feels high school was the greatest time and I have to imagine he's at this party just to reminisce and be recognized as the popular guy. My guess is that Trip didn't fare well when he was no longer a big fish in a small pond.

The where are they now text epilogues work so perfectly in a movie like this. High school isn't indicative of life. This isn't a true experience, but it is a fun one and that's what makes this work, that and the characters that encapsulate this perfect experience that is graduating high school.