1999 was a milestone year for me as it marked me moving from high school into college. In the summer between those two events this movie hit theaters and maybe it was legitimately funny, maybe it was nostalgia for a recent time, but I loved the film. I've revisited it a few times over the past few years and my excitement for the film never waned although I appreciated different things about it.
By now you probably know the story but for those that don't. Four friends that are graduating high school are preoccupied with sex. They all stand at different ends of the pendulum in their quest. Kevin has a girlfriend and is debating on taking the next step with her. Paul Finch is a sophisticate and is more concerned with studying the science of sex. Oz is a jock who has some idea of sex based off what his friends say but he falls hard for a chorus girl. And then there is Jim who is so clueless about sex that he is desperate for anything to go right for him in that regard. The four make a pact to lose their virginity before high school graduation. This pact is what moves the story forward as they battle obstacles that keep popping up to stop them from their goal.
With Can't Hardly Wait I talked about how writing parts as caricatures of high school students it doesn't work as well and ruins the movie. This is a film that could have very easily sailed off the rails because of such a problem but it avoids that trapping at every turn. Even when it looks like it is heading towards it. The four leads treat sex honestly and the script asks them to at every turn. Too often in these types of comedies sex is treated as a comedic end. Here it is the end goal but the story is more about how they come to accept what that step means for their lives. Jim wants to have sex, but more because he sees that as a legitimate last step before heading to college. It's something you need to do before you head off to college because it is how you define yourself as a man. He later finds that to not really be the case- as do the others- but the nobleness of the cause makes the story much easier to digest.
What the movie really gets right though is how it treats both sides of the sexual equation. In too many high school comedies it is all about the boys and their quest with no regard for how the women fit into that. The women are treated as sexual conquests- an estrogen filled Olympic medal that signifies accomplishment. In this film though, the women are written as three dimensional characters with real feelings and not as just doormats to be rolled over (no pun intended). That isn't to say they aren't attractive or viewed as goddesses. In 1999 Tara Reid and Mena Suvari were considered big deals in this film and Shannon Elizabeth vaulted to stardom by being in a long topless scene here. But the women are never written as bimbos or objects of desire. The movie takes pains to show that they are wrestling with their own feelings about sex throughout. The best scene of this is when Tara Reid and Natasha Lyonne's characters discuss sex. Vicky (Tara Reid) feels like once she has sex with Kevin he will dump her and she is not ready for that. In the end, after they have sex she dumps him because she realizes he wasn't after her just for the sex but rather because he cared for her. She makes the decision then that they should break up based off where their college lives are taking them and not because they chose to consummate a relationship. It's that level of maturity in the writing that is a refreshing change of pace.
In Jim's case, he is the one being used for sex and gets one night standed by Michelle and thinks that is "cool." Jim also has his issues with his dad trying to relate to him about sex. Eugene Levy plays that part perfectly as the dad who wants to help, but also realizes he needs to let his son make mistakes for himself. Any other actor in that role may have overplayed it but Levy's bewildered look throughout is hilarious and his awkwardness is matched at every turn by Jim's It's not hard to see where Jim gets his unease from.
The other thing this movie helped popularize was the gross out comedy. By this point it has been done to death but in 1999 it was relatively fresh to that generation of audience. The long scene with Finch in the women's bathroom at school doesn't play well on multiple viewings and from the beginning was sort of silly. The scene where Jim humps the pie though is still funny and jarring even when you know it is coming. It's the direction that sells it everytime. Jim gets told a vagina is like warm apple pie and then sees an apple pie on the counter at home. He looks at it for a few beats while the viewer debates whether he will actually do something so off the wall. A few frames later when it cuts back and he is dry humping the pie it is hilarious and it's all based on the timing of it all. Too often, gross out humor is there just to be gross and not clever. In this particular case it was both.
This is still a warm film and once you get past the silly gags and lines designed to get a big laugh (What's my name bitch?) there is a film here that has a message for its viewers. Sex is a tricky subject and it's not something that has a set plan that everyone works for. It takes different paths and the best thing you can do is navigate and take your opportunity when you are ready for it. What do you really have to lose?
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