It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

"Don't look back. You should never look back."There is a scene during the movie where someone spray painted "This Party Sucked" on the door, and I guess that the same thing can be said about this predictable and formulaic teen comedy that tries way too hard to capture the spirit of former John Hughes' comedies from the 80's. Perhaps it is my fault that I just got around watching this film now, but if that is the case all I can say is that it hasn't aged well considering many films since have done a much better job at delivering laughs and breaking genre conventions. Can't Hardly Wait is completely predictable from start to finish and the characters all fall flat despite some charismatic performances from the cast. The script may be the biggest disappointment because the characters aren't given anything interesting to say and they all play generic characters. This was Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan's first feature film as directors, and they only went on to direct one other movie together (Josie and the Pussycats). Can't Hardly Wait was received quite well in the late 90's, but I can't see its appeal. It feels like a generic teen comedy about teenagers partying after graduation. They all promise to be memorable, but in the end everything that goes on in the party is completely predictable. There are fun moments, but the film never justifies it 100 minute runtime. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the girl everyone in school loves and admires, but she has recently been dumped by her boyfriend, played by Peter Facinelli, who wants to move on and meet college girls now. Their breakup is the talk of the school, and Ethan Embry's Preston believes fate has given him another shot to talk to the girl of his dreams. Preston has always been in love with Amanda (Hewitt), but she doesn't even know of his existence. We find out about his secret crush for Amanda through his best friend, Denise (Lauren Ambrose), who he confides in. Other people we meet at the party are the classic characters we've seen in many other 80's and 90's teen comedies: some of the hot shot athletes who are best friends with Mike (Facinelli), their gorgeous girlfriends who are part of Amanda's group, the rockstar wannabes, and the nerds who want to avenge all the years of bullying they've endured. Charlie Korsmo gives one of the most funny performances as this nerd who after drinking a bit too much becomes the sensation of the party. There is also a side plot involving Denise getting locked up in the bathroom with Kenny Fisher (Seth Green), someone who she shared a past with but hasn't been in contact since. Locked up together in the bathroom seems like a good way to dig up the past and they both open up with each other. The side stories and secondary characters are actually more interesting than the actual main plot involving Hewitt and Embry's relationship and that is what ultimately hurt the film for me. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

I liked this movie a lot. It had all the elements of a great teen movie without the whinny, class warfare of the 80s teen flicks. Seth Green was excellent in his role and has a lot of one liners that we still use around our house today. Its hard to really critique this movie on a normal basis because it lacks real depth. But if you want to laugh a lot and have a good time with friends, this is the movie to break out of the DVD collection. Like I said before, this is truly the last great teen movie to come out of Hollywood. I've heard that the directors cut is better but the original has enough laughs to make it watchable. Watch it....and watch it again!

during the 90's there was a slew of movies of this Genre coming out. I had no interest in Freddie Prinze, Jr., The American Pie Cast or Rachel Leigh Cooke at the time...Not because they weren't talented, but because of the amount of fluff their names were attached to. As a Teenager, I could not relate to ANY of these Teen Flicks until "Can't Hardly Wait" came along. It was practically a Spoof with a Plot. I remember being happy about the Character's resolutions, and most of the characters were played by funny actors. I decided pre-Robot Chicken that Seth Green was a genius after this movie. Perhaps it is the way you recognize all these characters hitting their extremes as Caricatures that makes us want to keep watching this movie.The other teen flick from the 90's I recommend is "10 Things I Hate About You." Again, another movie that goes overboard showing the High School experience, and doesn't force a sincerity that isn't there.