Somewhere in the 1990's movie studios sort of gave up on making teen comedies. There were still a few that drifted into theaters but after the high water mark of the 80's, the tide for this type of comedy really went back out to sea. In the late 90's the teen comedy made a comeback and this film was one of the first ones on the front lines trying to bring back the hi-jinks and end of school anarchy that the films of the 80's brought. It doesn't always work however with this film.
Can't Hardly Wait follows the traditional huge party after high school graduation. It's sort of a bottle episode movie where a majority of it takes place in one location with multiple stories colliding with one another. Preston Myers (Ethan Embry) has always pined for Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt) but has never quite worked up the courage to tell her that. He has written out a love letter, that has gone through multiple edits, waiting for the right time to tell her. At graduation, he finds out through the rumor mill that Amanda has been dumped by her boyfriend Mike Decker (Peter Facinelli) and sees his opportunity. He drags along his best friend Denise Fleming (Lauren Ambrose) and sets out to accomplish this mission. At every turn he seems to be shot down by his own awkwardness or someone else interjecting themselves into his mission. To the film's credit, it never feels like a plot device- even though it absolutely is.
While he has that story going there are other stories that involve nerd William Licther looking to exact revenge on Mike Dexter, and gangster wannabe Kenny Fisher (Seth Green) has the singular mission of getting laid this evening. Those are the main stories that drive everything that happens at the party. In some ways it's nice that while they have this huge cast they only focus on a few stories instead of trying to give everyone some kind of purpose. The problem though is in how the characters are written.
It would be an understatement to say the characters are broadly written. They are painted in such abstract terms that it feels like it was done solely to shoehorn a character into one situation from the next. Kenny is so over the top goofy (despite being somewhat accurate) that it never makes his turn at the end feel earned. See- Kenny and Denise have a history together that gets played out while both are locked in an upstairs bathroom. It has heart, mostly do to Ambrose, but Kenny's swings in character are jarring. One minute he is sensitive and reconnecting with an old friend. The next he is a jerk playing her off as a one-night stand. The latter wouldn't matter so much if they hadn't worked so hard to take him the other direction just minutes earlier.
That takes us to Mike Dexter who is written to represent what we all think happens to the king of the school once he leaves high school. He becomes a mess of a human being and finds out that his best days were in high school. Again though, the character is so oddly written that it feels cartoony. There is a scene towards the end where he tries to get Amanda to take him back in front of everyone and blurs the line between macho confidence and desperate neediness. The shift between the two is too sudden though in the scene. It's not a natural progression of the character. The ending of that particular scene is funny to me because it's so random but your mileage will vary on that.
Which leads us to Amanda Beckett, played by the stunning Jennifer Love Hewitt. I will be up front and say I have always carried a certain affinity for Ms. Hewitt. I will readily admit though that it only partly has to do with her acting. The part here is not a great one for her though until the end. Hewitt's personality is always so bubbly and upbeat and she has/had a habit of taking roles that asked her to be morose at every turn taking away from her natural gifts. Here she is asked to be moping around the party (I suppose) as she is trying to gauge how she fits into the world now that high school is over. She knows she was dating the king of high school and she has no plans for the future. She laments at one point that she doesn't know herself when she isn't with Mike which is a natural feeling to have for a girl who would be graduating high school. But Hewitt doesn't quite pull that off effectively. There is supposed to be an internal struggle here but her face and body language never fully conveys that. At the end she gets to play doe eyed hopeful girl and it's there again where she shines. Mostly because, that si directly in the vein of what she can play. I've often wondered how she chooses scripts because there are definite talents she has but she hardly ever plays to them. In films where she has (Heartbreakers, even Ghost Whisperer to an extent) she shines and is very good.
It seems like a common theme here that the script isn't great and overall that really is this case. Most of the characters in this are written almost as caricatures. That's not to say that is always a bad thing- as the movie I will review next will show. The point of writing a character though is to keep them grounded in some form of reality. There is a funny character arc for Kenny but they go too over the top in presenting him as a wannabe. There is a good arc for Mike but they go too far in presenting him as the dumb jock whose best days are over. There is a good arc for William, but the story is way too predictable and over the top. The best two written characters are Preston and Denise but that's because both of their stories come from a grounded first position and never get too overly silly, although they do get close with Denise at times in the conversations with Kenny.
That's not to say this is a bad film. It's a fun film and you'll have fun spotting the characters you went to high school with. Also, it's fun to play spot the celebrity as the cast here is a wide array of talented people who moved on to higher profile roles. In particular look for:
Melissa Joan Hart
Donald Faison
Breckin Meyer
Jason Segel
Jamie Pressely
Freddy Rodriguez
Erik Palladino
Selma Blair
Sara Rue
Jerry O'Connell
Jenna Elfman
Some pop up in pronounced roles, and some have cameos where they offer sage advice to one character or another.
If you go in not expecting too much you won't be let down. If you go in expecting clearly defined characters you will be.
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