Can't Hardly Wait

1998 "Yesterday's history. Tomorrow's the future. Tonight's the party."
6.5| 1h40m| PG-13| en
Details

It's graduation day at Huntington Hills High, and you know what that means - time to party. And not just any party, either. This one will be a night to remember, as the nerds become studs, the jocks are humiliated, and freshman crushes blossom into grown-up romance.

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Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Fluke_Skywalker Plot; The lives and loves of various teens intersect at a party on the night of their high school graduation.Part of the late 90s teen comedy resurgence, Can't Hardly Wait boasts an absolutely jam-packed cast of "before they were famous" faces. Nearly every scene had me going "He/she is in this too?". It was fun to see them here at the dawn of their respective careers with almost no obvious pretense on display. The film itself is riddled with the genre's many time tested (or worn, depending on your point of view) clichés, and the characters and their respective stories are wafer thin--even for a teen comedy--but despite this there's zip to its pacing and an enlivening charm from its cast that lifts the material. If you like the genre, if you have a nostalgia for that late 90s pop fizz era, then you'll probably enjoy this one.
Craig Parmisan These films are popular because almost everyone has experienced the age old scenes that play out this film.The film was shot towards the end of the nineties but depicts the culture of the early nineties.Jenifer love Hewitt was in her prime and played the girl all the bad guys want role really well.Whether your​ high school experience was a good or bad one, you will undoubtedly relate.Although the music that made the key scores were from the eighties, they blended nicely with other music and triggered some good memories.
jcbutthead86 Can't Hardly Wait is an excellent,hilarious Teen Comedy that combines great direction,a wonderful ensemble cast,a fun script and a memorable soundtrack. All of those elements make Can't Hardly Wait one of the best Teen movies of the 1990s and one of my favorites in the genre.Can't Hardly Wait tells the story about Preston(Ethan Embry),a Teen who has just graduated High School and has chosen a graduation party to confess his love to his long time crush the beautiful and popular Amanda Beckett(Jennifer Love Hewitt). Meanwhile,Kenny(Seth Green),a Hip-Hop loving misfit who wants to lose his virginity but gets stuck in the bathroom with the cynical Denise(Lauren Ambrose),a former friend. Class nerd William(Charlie Korsmo)wants revenge against his bully football jock Mike Dexter(Peter Facinelli). All of them are in for a wild hilarious night they will never forget.After the critical and Box Office success of the Teen/High School classic Clueless(1995),the teen genre was booming again in the late 1990s and in my opinion one of the best Teen films to come out during the 90s and one of my favorites of the genre was Can't Hardly Wait,a terrific and hilarious Teen Comedy that was a modest success at the Box Office and over the years has developed a Cult following that is well deserved. Can't Hardly is a movie that is just entertaining from start to finish and it's a film that wonderfully pays homage to it's inspirations and fore fathers in the Teen genre whether it's the John Hughes films,American Graffiti,Dazed And Confused and Fast Times At Ridgemont High and while it takes most of the elements from those movies Can't Hardly Wait creates it's own world and style that makes it entertaining and re-watchable after many viewings. Also,like the movies I mentioned above Can't Hardly Wait shows off tons of actors who would become bigger and more famous years later. Nearly 80% of High School movies have one or two party scenes but in Can't Hardly Wait nearly the entire movie takes place at a party where tons of wild and crazy things take place. Having the movie take place at a party makes the film feel fresh and almost like a stage play and that is one of the things that I think sets CHW from the other Teen movies during the late 90s early 2000s. Despite being set at a party the movie never runs out of steam or wears out it's welcome and there's an energy that keeps going until the very end. The Comedy and laughs in Can't Hardly Wait are funny and non-stop with a mixture of slapstick,over the top characters and moments of hilarity and insanity. I also enjoy the fact that CHW takes place in one night which I think makes some of the situations ever more funny and over the top. The screenplay by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan is fantastic giving the characters dialog that hilarious,witty and clever. I also enjoyed how Can't Hardly Wait despite being a very funny movie deals with love,fate and looking back at the past while moving into the future which is dealt with in different ways by the main characters. And speaking of the main characters they all are very much the same kind of stereotypes that you see in other High School movies(Nerd,Jock,popular girl etc..)but as the movie goes on we learn about who they are and what they want with some depth and emotion. CHW also has one of the biggest and largest ensemble casts I have seen in a Teen film with lots of fun and interesting supporting characters who make small and brief appearances but leave an impression on viewers. The ending of Can't Hardly Wait wonderful because not only do we learn about the fates of the main characters with also get laughs,romance and some surprises. A great ending.The cast is great. Jennifer Love Hewitt is excellent,beautiful and sexy as Amanda,a popular girl. Ethan Embry is terrific as Preston,a guy in love with Amanda. Charlie Korsmo is wonderful and funny as William,a nerd looking for revenge. Lauren Ambrose is fantastic as Denise,Preston's cynical best friend. Peter Facinelli is amazing as Mike,a Football jock. Seth Green is great and hilarious as Kenny,a Hip-Hop loving goof ball. Also,lookout for fun appearances and cameos from Melissa Joan Hart(Vikki,the yearbook girl),Jenna Elfman(The Angel Stripper),Jerry O'Connell(Trip McNeely),Breckin Meyer(Walter)and early roles from Jason Segel,Freddy Rodriguez,Jamie Pressly and many more. The direction by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan is fantastic,with Elfont and Kaplan bringing a simple but effective style and energy to the film with good lighting and pace. Great direction,Elfont and Kaplan.The soundtrack is a wonderful mixture of Rock and Pop songs that go with the energy and atmosphere of the film. In final word,if you love Teen Films,High School movies or Comedies,I highly suggest you see Can't Hardly Wait,an excellent and hilarious Teen Comedy that you will watch again and again. Highly Recommended. 10/10.
bh_tafe3 Wow, Blink 182, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Seth Green, Tupac RIP references, Dharma (but not Greg) {Jenna Elfman}, that guy with the high pitched voice from Empire Records (Ethan Embry) and OMGZ!!! is that the little kid from Hook (1991) all grown up (Charles Korsmo)? Looks like this one's about the late 90s, and it's a decent example of a prime vintage.I can't really explain the nostalgic value of seeing Jerry O'Connell drop in for a cameo, seeing Selma Blair get hit on by Mike Dexter, seeing Sabrina herself Melissa Joan Hart run around like a kid with ADHD and seeing Breckin Meyer ask us if "Anyone ordered a Love Burger?" But it is magic. And if you look really carefully, there's Jaime Pressley and Jason Segel, present at the role call as well. When they were making this film they were looking for more than a fast hit, casting some popular young actors in a clichéd situation involving a party after the last day of High School. They made a film that encapsulated the time perfectly. Not just the fashions and attitudes, but the way movies were being made, and the way popular culture viewed the world. This movie was accurate to the time by showing its characters to be shallow, materialistic and oblivious. It didn't have anything to say about 90s teen culture, but caught what it was. While I don't give the film credit for its clichéd characterizations, I do give it credit for the way these clichés engage with each other into a coherent, though predictable whole.The main story being told involves Amanda Beckett, who has just been dumped by her jock boyfriend Mike Dexter. Nerdy classmate Preston Meyers, flanked by his nerdy friend Denise Fleming, decides that this is the night, at the end of High School Party, to confess his love for Amanda. And that's pretty much it. There are a lot of subplots and minor characters but it all happens around the main narrative.Ethan Embry, as Meyers, is pretty funny, Korsmo, as a vengeful nerd seeking revenge on Mike Dexter for a life time of cruel pranks is actually pretty good. Lauren Ambrose is decent as Denise, but her character is annoying and quite hypocritical. Most of the cast come across well in limited screen time, and some good cameos and funny scenes fort the trailer, with a theme by Smashmouth "I can't get Enough of you Baby," and it was a minor hit at the time it came out.More than a decade later, Can't Hardy Wait is the ultimate nostalgia fix. It looks like a 90s movie, follows all the conventions of a 90s movie and is made like a 90s movie. Not intelligent, but still entertaining. I'll admit a personal bias, but still recommend it if you are a fan of the era.