{"id":37630,"date":"2015-07-27T06:01:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-26T20:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/?p=37630"},"modified":"2026-03-08T11:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T00:51:08","slug":"movie-review-cant-hardly-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/2015\/07\/27\/movie-review-cant-hardly-wait\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review – Can’t Hardly Wait"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Principal Cast :<\/strong>\u00a0 Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Peter Facinelli, Lauren Ambrose, Seth Green, Robert Jayne, Chris Owen, Clea Duvall, Jamie Pressly, Sean Patrick Thomas, Donald Faison, Tamala Jones, Freddy Rodriguez, Melissa Joan Hart, Erik Palladino, Breckin Meyer, Paige Moss, Eric Balfour, Selma Blair, Jennifer Paz, Jenna Elfman, Sara Rue, Nicole Bilderback, Leslie Grossman, Jay Paulson, Joel Michaely, Michelle Brookhurst, Charlie Korsmo.
\nSynopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Multi-character teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agenda of life on graduation night.<\/h3>\n

********<\/p>\n

Archive Note ( March 2026):<\/strong>
This review was originally published on Fernby Films in an earlier format. Minor editorial corrections have been made for spelling, formatting and factual clarity while preserving the original voice and intent of the piece.<\/em><\/p>\n

American \u201chigh school party\u201d films have become a dying breed in most respects, although that might seem false considering the success of the American Pie<\/em> movies over the last decade or so, but the late 90\u2019s certainly did their best to reestablish the genre as a legitimate comedy format. Both Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em>, and American Pie<\/em> (which came out the following year), revel in their depictions of American high-school archetypes \u2013 the jock, the bitch, the nerds, the sexually immature, the shy one, the gangsta and the shrew, to name a few \u2013 but it\u2019s Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> that massaged the romantic\/comedy aspect of the genre to great effect here. Not all of the film works well, and there are moments of clunky \u201ccomedy\u201d and stretched character wranglings that feel forced, but as a genteel example (with only minor \u201cgross out humour\u201d themes) of this teen comedy model, Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> is pleasant enough.<\/p>\n

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At the end of their senior year, a group of Philadelphia high-school students gather at a house to party. With copious amounts of alcohol, inhibitions are lowered and things start to get a little crazy. For Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry), the news that his long-time crush, Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has dumped her selfish, arrogant jock boyfriend Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli) fills him with excitement, for he plans to use her attendance at the party to tell her how he feels. He\u2019s written a letter explaining his feelings for her. Preston\u2019s friend, Denise (Lauren Ambrose), helps him pluck up the courage to do so, before inadvertently getting stuck in an upstairs bathroom with fellow classmate, Kenny Fisher (Seth Green), who used to be her friend before he became obsessed with becoming \u201cpopular\u201d. Nerdy William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo) has a plan to seek revenge on Mike Dexter for years of bullying and torment, and together with his friends Geoff (Joel Michaely) and Murphy (Jay Paulson), arrive at the party with intent to humiliate. However, William\u2019s plans go awry when he starts to get drunk, and accidentally becomes the life of the party and bonds with a despondent Mike over his break-up with Amanda.<\/p>\n

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Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> is a terrific example of an ensemble cast just working. Although the film is propelled largely through its continuous use of interwoven cross-interactions with a variety of the cast, the mise-en-sc\u00e8ne allows for numerous one-shot jokes and cameos from more noted stars at the time. The film\u2019s jocular use of stereotypes, most of which stretch back down the decades to at least Grease<\/em>\u2019s game-changing iconographic replication of American school life, are familiar, but hardly fresh. And the rampant clich\u00e9s surrounding those stereotypes, including references to drugs, Star Wars<\/em>, sexual encounters (\u201cHave you had sex before?\u201d) and drinking to excess, are trotted out, although in the film\u2019s favour it all feels so discombobulatingly frantic, almost farcical at times, you kinda forget that it\u2019s all been done before. It also pays to note that I don\u2019t recall any of my girlfriends in high-school looking like Calvin Klein models, which is what the majority of the cast here all seem like. I know it\u2019s hard to cast actors who look like high-school students, but with only a few exceptions, this would have to be the most attractive school in the history of the world.<\/p>\n

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The central plot, or at least the one I was most interested in, involved Ethan Embry\u2019s character, Preston, and his infatuation with the \u201cunattainable\u201d Amanda Beckett. As a male-fantasy model, it ticked all the boxes \u2013 who hasn\u2019t been the unpopular kid, or the \u201cugly\u201d kid, or the nerdy kid at school with no chance of \u201cgetting with\u201d the unbelievably well-developed \u201chot girl\u201d? Embry\u2019s personification of the shy romantic wallflower isn\u2019t entirely implausible, but his character\u2019s starry-eyed hippie trip fate reliance does wear thin at times, as he spends the film engaged in the most one-sided relationship in history. While he pines for Amanda, she doesn\u2019t even know who he is, until she picks up and reads his letter after a series of miscommunications (aren\u2019t they tedious!), and chases him down. The romantic elements of this subplot work at a superficial level, but the ease with which the extremely-recently-single Amanda hooks up with him in the end had my wife grinding her teeth \u2013 \u201cShe\u2019s only been single for five minutes, met the guy for the first time two minutes ago, and already they\u2019re kissing?\u201d Also, if you watch carefully, in the promo pictures Embry towers over Hewitt in real life, even though in the film he\u2019s portrayed as being shorter than her. So nice camera-tricks, guys.<\/p>\n

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The \u201cComedy\u201d subplot of the film is nerdy William\u2019s revenge-plot-gone-awry, as he gets plastered, sings karaoke, and drunkenly bonds with the guy he\u2019s supposed to be hating on. This would be Charlie Korsmo\u2019s final film prior to returning to University and becoming super-educated, going on to have a successful career in the world of academia, but his performance as William is one for the ages. It\u2019s the ultimate \u201cnerd makes good\u201d story, where he suddenly finds himself the centre of attention and unable to handle it due to never being drunk before. Korsmo\u2019s unique melancholy at his character\u2019s years of belittling is ingratiating, making him a truly memorable character (if not, then at least the one with the most memorable, trailer-worthy dialogue).<\/p>\n

I should also note the blustering performance of Peter Facinelli (who would go on to play the paternal father-figure to Edward Cullen in the Twilight<\/em> series, Carlisle Cullen), as Mike Dexter. We all know a Mike. The dude who is alpha male in high-school, but forgets that once high-school finishes, and people go their separate ways, his cocky attitude and sheer arrogance will lead to poor life choices and inevitable ruin. Facinelli is terrific, selling the role but never making us hate the character outright. It\u2019s hard to make a bully sympathetic, or just pathetic, without a measure of resentment towards him, but Facinelli achieves it wonderfully.<\/p>\n

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The least interesting storyline of the film is one starring one of my favourite performers, Seth Green, as the \u201cwannabe gangsta\u201d Kenny, and his one-time best friend Denise, played by Lauren Ambrose. Ambrose is to this film what Natasha Lyonne would be to American Pie<\/em> \u2013 she\u2019s the \u201csensible\u201d, \u201cjudgmental\u201d one with a straight up disdain for most of those she\u2019s surrounded by. As this pair are stuck in a bathroom (long, groan-worthy story) and are forced to bond through boredom, their plight feels the least energetic, as it pithily wanders through embarrassed narrative undressing and into sly, furtive glances at each other before sex is initiated.<\/p>\n

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Story aside, the fun of Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> now lies in its \u201chey, what\u2019s he\/she doing in this movie?\u201d moments of realization as to how awesome this cast truly is. Cameo appearances by Dharma & Greg<\/em>\u2019s Jenna Elfman, My Secret Identity<\/em>\u2019s Jerry O\u2019Connell, Breckin Meyer, and supporting roles to notable names like Sabrina the Teenage Witch<\/em>\u2019s Melissa Joan Hart, Scrubs<\/em> star Donald Faison, Pineapple Express<\/em>\u2019s Jason Segel, Argo<\/em>\u2019s Clea Duvall, Cruel Intentions<\/em>\u2019 Selma Blair, The District<\/em>\u2019s Sean Patrick Thomas, My Name Is Earl<\/em>\u2019s Jamie Pressly, and Haven<\/em>\u2019s Eric Balfour, make spotting faces in this film a real good drinking game. And if you can list all the cast members who appeared with star Jennifer Love Hewitt in her popular television drama, Party of Five<\/em>, that\u2019s another list for a drinking game. Oh, and big props for the casting of American Pie<\/em>\u2019s Chris Owen (The Sherminator) as a delinquent kleptomaniac who has zero dialogue but almost steals the film. Pun intended.<\/p>\n

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Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> is a typically debauched teen-centric comedy revolving around sex, drinking, and unrequited love. The stories and characters are broadly simplistic, with the film living or dying purely on the strength of its characters and the hilarity of the sitcom-styled predicaments that occur within the context of a night-long party. Although the film\u2019s PG rated antics would be subsumed a year later by American Pie<\/em>\u2019s raunchy pastry-f@cking tone, Can\u2019t Hardly Wait<\/em> is a sugary, frothy, heart-on-sleeve romantic comedy that doesn\u2019t outstay its welcome, and is surprisingly restrained most of the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal Cast :\u00a0 Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Peter Facinelli, Lauren Ambrose, Seth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48482,"featured_media":79360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-review"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07.jpg",2000,1333,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-500x280.jpg",500,280,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-660x365.jpg",660,365,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-840x840.jpg",640,640,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07.jpg",2000,1333,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cant-hardly-wait-3-2000-7892dab5efc34865846c505bb7b43e07-272x182.jpg",272,182,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Rodney Twelftree","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/author\/rodney\/"},"category_info":"Movie Review<\/a>","tag_info":"Movie Review","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79374,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37630\/revisions\/79374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}