Can't Hardly Wait (Film Review)
1998 Sony Pictures Releasing
Written and Directed by: Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont
Starring: Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 101 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10
Despite the fact that he's barely said a word to her throughout their entire high school experience, Preston Meyers is in love with Amanda Beckett. Now that they've graduated, Preston has one last chance to confess his love. One of the richest girls in Preston's class is throwing a party at her house, and everyone from his now high school free high school class is going to be there. Will Preston finally be able to express his feelings to Amanda? Will almost a dozen more interesting side-characters steal the movie from him?
I hated Can't Hardly Wait in 1998, when I was roughly the same age as its characters. Forever an old soul, I negatively compared the film to coming of age films from previous generations. That was dumb.
Can't Hardly Wait is a joyous celebration of being young in the late 90's. The central Preston/Amanda conflict is kind of silly, but the film compensates in the best way possible: by overflowing with colorful side-characters in fun side-plots, featuring fun dialogue, spouted by a veritable who's who army of likable young actors.
What really makes the film work and gives it a timeless longevity for those NOT acting too cool for school to enjoy it, IE, 17-year-old me, is that almost every character with multiple scenes in this film undergoes some kind of arc, which often twists off in an unexpected direction at the start of the final act, before finding resolution in the film's conclusion. These arcs not only feel real for the characters as they're presented, but personally remind me of some of the unexpected nights I had in high school...and those were probably the best ones! Even the film's dreamy ending for Preston and Amanda is appreciated by a weeks-away-from-41 The Nicsperiment. Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my middle-age.
What really makes the film work and gives it a timeless longevity for those NOT acting too cool for school to enjoy it, IE, 17-year-old me, is that almost every character with multiple scenes in this film undergoes some kind of arc, which often twists off in an unexpected direction at the start of the final act, before finding resolution in the film's conclusion. These arcs not only feel real for the characters as they're presented, but personally remind me of some of the unexpected nights I had in high school...and those were probably the best ones! Even the film's dreamy ending for Preston and Amanda is appreciated by a weeks-away-from-41 The Nicsperiment. Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my middle-age.
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