Customer Reviews

Can't Hardly Wait [VHS]

5 star:		(174)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ethan Embry and Jennifer Love Hewitt star in this teen comedy originally released in 1998 and now finally 10 years later we are getting a special edition DVD. So what can you expect from the 10 Year Reunion Edition DVD of Can't Hardly Wait? Well Extras will include:

* an original commentary with filmmakers and cast (no big deal as this was on the original DVD release)
* a commentary with filmmakers and cast - 10 Years Later
* Featurette "Huntington High Class of `98" Reunion
* Featurette "Can't Hardly Wait: The Making of a Teen Classic"
* Featurette "The Life of the Party"
* exclusive deleted scenes (at last)
* A You Know You're `90's If..." trivia game
* and the "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" Smashmouth music video (which was also on the original release)

All in all it has the makings to be great. I am just happy this amazing movie is finally getting the attention it deserves!

I really enjoyed this movie. I don't think it's a GREAT movie worthy of 5 stars, but instead I think it's worth ***1/2 (I had to round up). This movie was hilarious, and I have laughed through the entire thing all 14 times I have seen it in the past two months. (Some scenes I've seen about 30 times. You know, you just have to rewind some to see them again) I may be, you know, addicted, but that's beside the point.

This movie has terrific acting (Witness Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, Ethan Embry, but excluding Jennifer Love Hewitt, I'm afraid), and yes, it even has symbolism. My favorite is the couple making out on the couch when Preston first tries to talk to Amanda and knocks over the candlesticks. They appear in the background several other times throughout the movie, at key points. 1: the graduation itself 2: When Amanda talks with the "Sheep Girl" 3: When Mike comes in from outside looking for Amanda and 4: On the table outside when Denise and Kenny are in the cafe. 5 times total, all at times concerning the central relationships of the movie. :)

Anyways, there are a bunch of little things like this throughout the whole movie that add an extra level to it. That is the main reason why I've seen it 14 times. (And forced others in my dorm to see it). It is a fun movie, a good movie that is worth seeing over and over again.

The cinematogrophy is EXCELLENT. The soundtrack is VERY GOOD. Even BETTER is the sound editing/mix. (Pay attention to the swell of the music when Mike admits he is a loser to William). And even the stereotypes ADD to the movie.

Many dislike this movie for the stereotypical representations of the jock, yearbook girl, nerds, etc. But the essence of these stereotypes is very important to the movie. Because most people we come in contact ARE one-dimensional, for the very reason that we don't take the time or effort to get to know them. That is how the movie treats these people. Only those that the movie focuses on are developed and change. At any rate, we all know several of those people that are in the movie, and that is what makes it so familiar to all of us.

I reccomend this movie to everyone. Don't expect a classic, but look deep into the movie, and the background, and you will discover more than you thought there ever could be!

An excellent choice of cast - Jennifer Love Hewitt ( I Know What You Did Last Summer), Ethan Embry (Disturbing Behaviour), Seth Green (Buffy, The Vampire Slayer) and new faces like Lauren Ambrose, Charlie Kosmo and Peter Facinelli (Dancer, Texas, Pop. 81). So, Amanda Beckett (Love Hewitt) has been Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) love interest since he first saw her. Now he has his chance to dive right in when Amanda dumps her ex-boyfriend, Mike (Peter Facinelli)! This movie is like one of those where everyone has a main part - it's excellent!

In my opinion, this is one of the best teen movies ever made. While the main characters seem somewhat stereotypical at first, all of the characters (well, almost all of them) break down the barriers of high school cliquedom and discover something about themselves and their high school classmates. The whole movie centers around a party on graduation night. Preston (Ethan Embry) has carried a torch for Amanda (the gorgeous Jennifer Love Hewitt) ever since meeting her as a freshman. After four years, Amanda has just been dumped by her jock boyfriend, and Preston is convinced that fate will finally bring him and Amanda together. A series of "signs" convinces him to tell Amanda how he feels about her--this task becomes pretty complicated as the night progresses. Meanwhile, there are other wonderful subplots. Seth Green is hilarious as a jive-talking, would-be playboy determined to find a girl at the party; he ends up stuck in a bathroom with a girl he was good friends with before he tried to join the cool crowd in high school. The obligatory nerd goes to the party with a plan to humiliate Amanda's ex-boyfriend for having picked on him for years, and he ends up becoming the life of the party. His drunken performance of GNR's "Paradise City" is not to be missed. A lot of things happen throughout the movie, but the only person who really comes out a loser is Amanda's ex-boyfriend.

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.

Bashed by critics, audience viewers have given this movie cult status, and deservedly so. Good fun performances by everyone but of course the standout is Jennifer Love Hewitt who plays the most popular girl at school Amanda Becket. The story goes something like this. Since it's their last day of school Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) sees this as his last chance to tell the girl of his dreams (Becket) just how much he loves her. While his best friend Denise Fleming (Lauren Ambrose) has doubts about it. Telling him, what if she doesn't like you? Ever since Amanda's (Hewitt) break up with popular jock Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli) Becket is the most sought at girl at the party. Now each person has their own agenda at this party. For instance Embry (Preston) wants to tell Hewitt he loves her, and William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo) has his own agenda. William has been humiliated his entire life by Dexter (Facinelli). And feels tonight at the party is his perfect way of getting back at him for all the years of misery Dexter put him through. But that's not the only thing going on at this party. Everyone wants to get "lucky". And no one does more than Kenny Fisher (Seth Green), who in my opinion is the funniest character in the movie! With so much going on you can tell this will turn out to be a funny fast paced teen comedy that I'm sure all teens and even adults will enjoy. Teens might think Seth Green gives the best performance, he certainly is the funniest, and might just want to watch the movie for him. But I think Hewitt is the highlight of the movie. Some might like to take notice to the brief cameos seen in the movie by Melissa Joan Hart, Jerry O' Connell, and a voice over by Liv Tyler. Here's a good clean, and funny teen comedy all will enjoy.

I bought this video on a whim, mainly because I like Seth Green, but not expecting too much of it. I was totally blown away. This is the best movie I've seen for ages! It's like a "Sixteen Candles" for the 90's (which was a great movie till they changed the soundtrack). Ethan Embry (the saving grace of "Empire Records") was sweet and convincing; Charlie Korsmo was wonderful as the supergeek (making a nice comeback after disappearing for like 8 years). Lauren Ambrose is a junior Janeane Garofalo and although she's a new one on me, I think she's got talent. Seth Green, as always, stole the show as the white wannabe-black kid, and is excellent in everything he does (even if I'll always think of him as Chuckie Miller). The one weak link for me was Jennifer Love Hewitt. If the role called for a dull, wishy-washy, easy on the eye but not on the stomach kind of girl, then she did very well. I wasn't a fan of hers before and this did nothing to convert me. Still, the film had me laughing hysterically from start to finish, and I'd recommend it to anyone, brat pack fan or not.

This Is one of the best feelgood films i have seen in a long time. It was one of those films with the tense feeling all the way through. with the will they, wont they, moments all through out. if you liked ten things i hate about you, fast times at ridgemont high and films of a similar ilk then this is for you It is about a boy who has loved the same girl for 4 years. when she is finally single he makes a pact with himself to show his true feelings. Along with many other plot lines and a spectacular cast (especially Seth Green In his Best role to date) this is a must see movie. see it before it is too late.

This movie came out just before the teen flick rennaissance, and remains a cult favorite instead of a box-office smash. It's as good or better than the party/prom flicks that followed it, and a worthwhile addition to anyone's DVD collection.

The two romantic leads are great: Ethan Embry's pop-eyed earnestness makes him likeable, Jennifer Love Hewitt gets to show the downside of being beautiful and adored (poor kid). There are also plenty of notable cameos. Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg) has a funny bit as a stripper/angel, the always welcome Seth Green is pretty fly for a white guy, and Charlie Korsmo gets laughs as a geek who enters the social stratosphere by lip-syncing "Paradise City."

All in all a funny, feel-good movie. But the commentary on the DVD left me hungry for more. The directors had to cut several scenes, and re-edit others, to insure a PG-13 rating from the MPAA. The scenes that they talk about sound hilarious. They also describe how several awkwardly cut scenes should have played. The scenes sound brilliant. So, why not put a director's cut on the disc? How hard would it be? I'd like to actually see the movie the director wanted to make, not just hear about it. One of the points of DVD is to give the director that final say.

So one star docked for the DVD edition, but still a worthy addition to any teen-movie (John Hughes and the next generation) fan.

The first 20 minutes or so of this plotless romp about a post-graduation all-night party is torturous, at least for anyone who isn't a moron or a masochist. But once you're pulled into the forced fun of the piece and accept all the noise, the pain subsides into something merely blinding and numbing. You feel as wrecked as the partying kids on the screen.

Co-written and co-directed by a pair of newcomers, Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, "Can't Hardly Wait" (which was titled "The Party" up until about a month ago) is essentially a shameless rip-off of Richard Linklater's 1993 film, "Dazed and Confused," an insightful period piece set in 1976 about suburban Texas teens carousing on the last day of school.

There are also bits and pieces here from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "American Graffiti," "Animal House," "16 Candles" and even the ancient "Bye Bye Birdie," but most of the ideas come from Linklater's movie.

We get the "Bye Bye Birdie" connection right off when Elfont and Kaplan stage a non-singing variation on "The Telephone Hour" from that film, in which one teen gossips to another, spreading the word that the graduating class' golden couple, Top Jock Mike (Peter Facinelli) and Homecoming Queen Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), have broken up. Mike is going off to college and now has no time for high school girls.

This leaves the field open for Preston (Ethan Embry), an introverted, brainy kid who has nursed a crush on Amanda for four years and now plans to take action. Interwoven throughout the all-nighter are several missed encounters between Amanda and Preston, as well as subplots about a white kid who thinks he's African American (Seth Green), a geek (Charlie Korsmo) and his two sycophants (characters who are direct steals from "16 Candles") and the class cynic (Lauren Ambrose), the only intelligent person on hand, whose favorite quote is Oscar Wilde's "A true friend stabs you in the front."

Actually, the young cast works wonders with this material. There really isn't a bad performance here, with Embry, Ambrose and especially Hewitt turning in impressively self-composed work. The filmmakers tease us with Hewitt's character, at first only showing her in bits and pieces (sort of like Godzilla in its movie). But once Hewitt gets her first movie-star close-up, the audience went wild and applauded as if she were the Meryl Streep of Teen Trash.

Hewitt is a sweet, pleasing presence who almost redeems the junkiness of the movie surrounding her.

There are also cameos by TV's Jenna Elfman ("Dharma and Greg") as an erotic dancer and Melissa Joan Hart ("Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"), who's funny as "The Yearbook Girl," a dweeb intent on getting as many autographs in her yearbook as possible. And Jerry O'Connell ("Scream 2") pops up as a former high-school prince who has gone to pot.

He's playing the role that Matthew McConaughey nailed so perfectly in "Dazed and Confused," a film also noted for early screen appearances by Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Rene Zellweger, Milla Jovovich, Rory Cochrane, Jason London and Joey Lauren Adams. You might want to check it out. It achieves what "Can't Hardly Wait" only timidly hints at -- the giddy class structure among teenagers.

It also makes partying look like a lot more fun.

This is not a particularly great movie except for one thing. It restores the balance of karma by trying to put all the wrongs from the average high school to right.

The setting is a high school graduation party. Everyone shows up but nothing turns out as expected. The geek winds up with the girl of his dreams. The nerd becomes stud for a night and the most popular guy in school while extracting long deserved vengeance from the jock who tormented him for four years. The jock reaps the bitter harvest of what he has sown and winds up as a loser. The least popular girl in school finds love. All the wrongs are righted. It is a fantasy of the first order in this respect.

This film is good for a few laughs. It is nothing to get all excited about except for those of us who did suffer through high school. For us, it is a vicarious thrill to see all of the wishes fulfilled. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Jennifer Love Hewitt to show up on my doorstep but it is nice to wonder about such things. I'll probably die of old age before my school bully runs out of money from his pro football contract but it's nice to think it could be otherwise. That's what this movie is all about wish fulfillment for those of us who were not of the IN crowd.

The acting and entertainment rate 3 stars. The concept and wish fulfillment get 5 (only because more is not an option). I split the difference at 4.

Enjoy and think of what could have been.