Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
Director: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan Cast: Ethan Embry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Peter Facinelli, Charlie Korsmo Seth Green, Jerry O'Connell, Melissa Joan Hart Screenplay: Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont Producers: Jenno Topping Runtime: 100 min. US Distribution: Columbia/Sony Pictures Entertainment Rated PG-13: teen drinking, sex, language
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
I think I'm just barely too young to have been part of that 80s series of Movies for Rebellious Teenagers. I've seen The Breakfast Club, and I think it's a pretty good film. I've seen only parts of some of the other noteable ones (like Say Anything and Fast Times at Ridgemont High), so whatever cliches exist in this genre are likely to have passed me up if they were present in Can't Hardly Wait. I thoroughly enjoyed myself through this film, for not only is it a smart and funny movie, but it captures the essence of high school perfectly.
I've read a lot of reviews for Can't Hardly Wait before writing my own (typically I don't like to do this, but, because I've procrastinated so much, it was unavoidable). Most of the critics are saying the same things, complaining about stereotype characters and standard situations, et cetera. It seems pretty clear to me that Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, who co-wrote and co-directed, were very conscious of the angle they took. High school was little more than stereotype characters and standard situations, and Can't Hardly Wait does a great job of making fun of every degree of the caste.
It's the night of graduation, and there's a big party. The film doesn't follow a strict narrative or plotting, but does a good job of introducing some fun characters and giving them high-school-ish things to do. The most central character is Preston (Ethan Embry), the typical nice guy (and smart guy -- we immediately learn that he's off to Dartmouth in the fall). His subplot revolves around his love for Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has just been dumped by her four-year jock boyfriend, Mike (Peter Facinelli).
Preston is friends with Denise (Lauren Ambrose), a cynical misanthrope (are all misanthropes cynical?), who gets trapped in the bathroom with Kenny (Seth Green). Kenny is a white guy who pretends that a) he's black, and b) he's a slick ladies man. Denise shows him that he's neither one. Then there's William (Charlie Korsmo), the genius nerd who finally gets drunk and finds that the ladies are more attracted to intelligence than he had initially thought.
Can't Hardly Wait flows nicely through the twenty-four hours in which it takes place (beginning with graduation and ending with a nice scene in a train station). Kaplan and Elfont have constructed the film intelligently, and put some familiar tricks to good use (I liked the way Preston's letter gets into Amanda's hands). They also keep the popular music raging throughout the picture; even though this dates the film severely, it certainly will bring back not-so-distant memories for anyone in my generation.
I also liked the actors and their characters. Are they really stereotypes? Well, I suppose. A few critics agree that the only interesting character is Denise, but since I know so many people like her, I found her no more interesting than anyone else. I could enjoy myself watching Jennifer Love Hewitt scrape paint off a wall, so her acting ability is negligible for me (although I do think she's a talented actress). Embry is endearing with his puppy dog eyes (and he could win a Matthew McConaughey look-alike contest). I also enjoyed Facinelli's over-the-top imitation of the Head Jock. I hate jocks, and he does a great job making fun of them (and he could win a Tom Cruise look-alike contest).
If I have any complaints, it's that the movie kind of lags through the middle. The pace is swift, but it gets a bit repetitive at times. But on the whole, Can't Hardly Wait is a funny and intelligent film about the late teenage years. High school, which, for this reviewer, ended just two short years ago, was nothing more than a bunch of stereotypical people searching for themselves. There's no doubt in my mind that Kaplan and Elfont had this fact in mind as they made their film -- Can't Hardly Wait is a movie that any kid who grew up in the 90s will appreciate.
*** out of **** (7/10, B)
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews