Can't Hardly Wait [DVD] [1998]

That's the story of this film in a nutshell but to be honest the real humour and interesting storyline comes from another source. Seth Green plays Kenny Fisher and is by far the best character and actor in the film for me. Every time you see him you're laughing. Kenny is a white guy who acts black from the way he dresses to the way he talks and he's determined to lose his virginity at the party - unfortunately the girls aren't interested even though his rucksack is loaded to the brim with all kinds of sexual aids and books!

He accidently gets locked in a bathroom with a girl called Denise (Lauren Ambroise) who uses her sarcastic attitude to protect herself and who used to be good friends with Kenny when he was little. As the evening develops so does their relationship. In fact I was more interested in what happened to these two characters more than the leads.

The film also has a great soundtrack and is good fun throughout as all the characters show sides of themselves at the party that they didn't at school.

If you want to have a good laugh then watch this!

As a former nerd, I enjoyed seeing the self-absorbed jock get humiliated, the nerd become temporarily popular, and the shy guy stand a chance of getting the girl. I'm sure some people think the idea of carrying around a letter to a girl for four years is weird or obsessive, but I can attest to the fact that carrying around a secret longing for a person runs deep within the soul and cannot be expected to disappear in such a short time as four years. One feature of this movie I really liked was seeing a yearbook-like biography of each character at the beginning--complete with high school activities, future plans, and a favorite quote.

The entire cast is terrific, and I really enjoy this movie every time I watch it. Seth Green, as I have mentioned, is downright hilarious. Hewitt does a wonderful job portraying a prom queen who wants to find someone who will see her for what kind of person she is rather than judge her solely on her looks. Although the movie may sound like typical teenaged silliness to some, the characters do succeed in disproving the often perceived shallowness of the young. If you believe or want to believe in fate, this movie can also be an uplifting experience. As an added bonus, Smash Mouth's video for "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" featuring a dangerously stunning Jennifer Love Hewitt is also included with the movie.

This is one of those movies when a senior class has a big blow out to celebrate graduation and some house gets totally trashed while the parents are away. This year the party is at the house of Molly (Michelle Brookhurst), who is identified in the credits as "Girl Whose Party It Is." The major development is that Amanda Beckett (Love Hewitt), the prom/queen cheerleader has broken up with jock boyfriend Mike Dexter (Facinelli), which has inspired Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) to have hope. He has loved her from afar for all four years of high school. An aspiring writer, Preston wrote a love letter to Amanda as a freshman and tonight he thinks fate is telling him to give her that letter. After all, Barry Manilow's "Mandy" is on the radio.

The other three characters who would be seated at the dais are Denise Fleming (Ambrose), who is Preston's friend and apparently the only sane member of the senior class, William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo), the class super brain who comes to his first party armed with a chart that will help him figure out how much to drink and remain sober, and Kenny Fisher (Green), who has come to the party for the sole purpose of having sex that night and who talks like a black rapper despite the fact he is really, really white. He is not alone in this regard, although he will not run into some real African Americans who are not amused by their antics. Actually, "Can't Hardly Wait" is one of those movies where they try really hard to be amusing and it rarely works.

Granted, part of the problem is that I am at the age where when I watch a movie like this I cannot help but have nightmarish visions of it being my house being destroyed by a teenager kegger. I should identify with Preston, since I did my fair share of pinning for high school girls from afar, but there is so much going on that he gets lost in the proceedings. Besides, Jennifer Love Hewitt gets the top billing but the stand out performance is Lauren Ambrose, which is exactly as it should be if we are talking most talented actress and most interesting character.

I was leaning towards at least enjoying this film on its own terms, but then there was a scene where a blast from the past shows up at the party. Trip McNeely (Jerry O'Connell) and has a "deep conversation" with Mike Dexter, his heir as it were, and pretty much dumps a "meaningful message" into the film. I am not sure if it is too little too late or insult to injury, but it is one of those. That means that "Porky's" is a better film than this one (and funnier too). "Can't Hardly Wait" has a better soundtrack, which should not be the main reason for recommending a film, but in this case it is the truth. Still, as long as Lauren Ambrose is in a film you have a reason to see the DVD and not skip ahead directly to the CD.