#1 Cheap Can't Hardly Wait Reviews
The writing and directing team of Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (Josie and the Pussycats) met at film school and discovered that their respective parents were friends and they had both gone to High School at the same time in Philadelphia, just a few miles apart from each other. When Harry met Deborah would make a great movie, but maybe it already has, it was just called "Can't Hardly Wait." If they had just gone to the same High School, instead of two nearby ones, they could have been Amanda Beckett and Preston Meyers (I'm betting this is from Harry's perspective) or Kenny Fisher and Denise Fleming (Deborah's, anyone?).
Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) fell in love with Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt) the first moment he saw her. It was fate that threw them together, because they were both eating strawberry Pop-Tarts. Who can deny that the strawberry Pop-Tarts were an omen?
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Preston: [narrating] It was October, freshman year. First time in history that I'd ever missed the bus. If I had arrived on time, I never would've seen her. But as it was, I was the first person at Huntington Hills High to set eyes on Amanda Beckett. It was her first day at school. Then, I'm sitting in class enjoying a late breakfast when out of all the classrooms in the entire school, she walks into mine. And where does the teacher sit her? Right next to me! Now, up until now, one could write this off to coincidence. But then she reaches in her bag and pulls out a strawberry Pop-Tart - the very same breakfast pastry I was consuming at that moment! What was I to do? How was I to proceed?
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How was he to proceed, indeed? Preston's head was in the clouds; but by the time he cleared his thoughts Amanda had already been snatched up by Mike (Peter Facinelli), a shallow and conceited jock. Nevertheless, Preston believes in the portentous strawberry Pop-Tarts, and pours his feelings into a letter to Amanda that he constantly revises. As further evidence that he and Amanda are meant to be together he hears "Mandy" by Barry Manilow on the radio just as he is going to the graduation party. A party where Amanda will be in attendance, having just broken up with Mike. Mandy, short for Amanda -- could anything be more fortuitous?
Preston asks his friend, Denise Fleming, what she thinks of the signs, fate, and the latest revision of his letter to Amanda. Denise is skeptical. She is the clever red headed outsider, rolling her eyes at the High School hijinks, while secretly wishing that she could be popular. Maybe she'd like to be more than friends with Preston, too, but all he thinks about is Amanda, 24/7. "What am I, chopped liver?" Denise probably asks herself.
Meanwhile, Kenny Fisher thinks he is tres cool, but while he emulates the speech and fashion of Afro Americans, on him it just looks comical. It didn't work for Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Havoc," either.
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Denise: There's a mirror right there. Take a look, you're white.
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So now you get the gist of "Can't Hardly Wait." It is about a big party right after High School graduation, where Freaks, Geeks, Jocks, and Frocks all frolic, some with hidden agendas, and some with agendas not hidden at all, completely and totally blatant. If you were persecuted in High School, perhaps you can relate. The script very much favors the clever misfits, and forecasts the day when the smart will finally prevail. Hard to believe that will ever happen to geeks like this, but it makes for a nice wishful fantasy.
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X-Phile 1: You know what? My retainer looks like a Klingon warship.
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"Can't Hardly Wait" is very well written, and juggles the multiple story balls well. The direction was none too shabby, either. With Harry and Deborah, you get two points of view for the price of one. There are many Rashomon moments. Raging High School kegger that careens out of control? Tres cliche. But "Can't Hardly Wait" rises above the triteness of the material. There are tons of actors and actresses here who will go on to greater fame, and others who are headed for oblivion -- or television. It is fun just to watch the falling or shooting stars.
Jennifer Love Hewitt is really cute. Wow. She's acutely cute. Excrutiatingly cute also were Nicole Bilderback and Tamala Jones. Lauren Ambrose gave a very nuanced performance as Denise Fleming. Seth Green took many chances as Kenny Fisher, but I'm not sure that the chances he took paid off. He should get points for enthusiasm. Lose the goggles, though.
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Kenny Fisher: Why y'all gotta waste my flava?
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I Love You, Man (2009) Jason Segel was Sydney Fife; and Jaime Pressly was Denise
Party Monster (2003) Seth Green was James St. James
Josie and The Pussycats (2001) Written & Directed by Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan; Seth Green was Travis - Du Jour; and Breckin Meyer was Marco - Du Jour
Heartbreakers (2001) Jennifer Love Hewitt was Page Conners
Bring It On (Widescreen Collector's Edition) (2000) Nicole Bilderback was Whitney
Cruel Intentions (1999) Selma Blair was Cecile Caldwell
The Ed Wood Collection - A Salute to Incompetence I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) Summer Phoenix was Bartender#2/Girl at the Beach
Booty Call (1997) Tamala Jones was Nikki
That Thing You Do! (1996) Ethan Embry was T. B. Player; and Liv Tyler was Faye Dolan
Foxfire (1996) Peter Facinelli was Ethan Bixby
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Kenny Fisher: Those shoes!
Denise: What?
Kenny Fisher: Do they serve an orthopedic function?
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Can't Hardly Wait Overview
500 Huntington Hill High seniors attend the ultimate teen party - an once-in-a-lifetime alternate universe where class nerds become class studs, super-jocks are humiliated, and freshman crushes blossom into grown-up romance.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 22-MAY-2001
Media Type: DVD
A very special film to me that changed my life. - Zeeboe - The United States of America
I first saw this movie in the winter of 1998 when I was 16. My sister and her friends were watching it and I was just in the living room where they were watching it at the time, using the family computer. I later watched it myself and liked it, but it was not until that following summer when I watched it again on HBO that the movie really effected me.
This film actually changed my life and my perspective of high school. You see, I was a very anti-social, shy and fat nerdy kid who was just miserable all the time, but after seeing "Can't Hardly Wait", I realized how not only short high school is, but how precious it is, along with the teenage years and that I should enjoy it all while I can.
"Can't Hardly Wait" takes place on the graduation day of some seniors in high school. They all go to this party and it's like a teen soap opera, minus the drama. Well, a little drama, but not too much. There are several different major and minor storylines and there are a few main characters who have their own little adventures that night and grow as people. It's a coming-of-age movie.
I think anyone who enjoyed high school or were like me and really wanted to enjoy high school and appreciated it can relate to what's going on in "Can't Hardly Wait" and can understand the message and get what it's trying to tell you and can feel just as sad and sentimental as I do about it. I feel like the film's message is very simple: Don't let fate pass you by. You only get so many chances in life and life is very short. Nothing lasts forever so take advantage while you can, or at least fight trying.
It has a very bittersweet feel to it at times. It's all about growing up and moving on and saying goodbye to your youth and entering adulthood. This movie is hard movie for me to watch because it really makes me miss high school and my youth and I can't help but have some feelings of regret.
Please don't get the wrong idea. This movie isn't all tears or nothing like that. It's a very fun comedy full of laughs. It's just like how I feel when I watch "Rocky Balboa". That's a great and fun movie but it has a sad feel to it knowing that it is Rocky Balboa's final boxing match and with this movie, it's the final night of high school/teenhood/childhood innocence for a lot those characters and as I typed, if you enjoyed high school or wanted to, watching it can make you feel bittersweet.
I believe overall out of all the different types of people in the world, teenagers enjoy life more then anyone. Teenagers can enjoy both all the good things about being children and being adults. Teenagers can do almost anything and get away with it. They also experience a lot of different things for the first time and that can be quiet an adventure. They also discover who they are and who they will become because I believe who you are at 18 is who you are forever. Sure, you get a little smarter and mature as you age but overall, the person that you are is who you are always going to be whereas during your teen years, it can be a very confusing time and you slowly discover who you are based on whatever experiences you have or don't have as a teenager and if they are good experiences, you can have the time of your life.
"Can't Hardly Wait" is all about one last ride as a teenager for these teenage characters and is about letting go and moving on, but trying to take care of some final matters business before moving onto adulthood because in my opinion, life is never totally the same after high school.
I think every teenager should watch "Can't Hardly Wait" and I hope they can learn the same lesson I learned from it and understand the message and will go out and try to enjoy high school. There's a reason why people have high school reunions and why some people lie as they age you know. I think almost all of us all along to return to those years or at least relive them as often as we can. So if you're a teenager, you're the envy of a lot of people. You only get to be a teenager once, but you have the rest of your life to be an adult. Don't mess this short-lived gift up. Enjoy it before it's taken away, go out and make the most of it.
