I've seen this flick before of course, and considered "renting" it - I remembered it to be sufficiently happy and feelgood, with a good amount of noise to keep me awake; simple enough not to pay attention to, but it's not the too-idiotic kind of slapstick. I decided to take it home to play while I worked.
Poster from here.Directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan.
With Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry,
For all its teen-movie stereotypes, silliness and predictability, it's still fun. I'm glad that it at least didn't have a prom scene.
Can't hardly believe that this movie was released over a decade ago; for some reason it looks rather fresh. The clothes weren't even too '90s.
But of course the mere appearance of Jennifer Love Hewitt as the dreamgirl Amanda Beckett makes the movie dated (likable choice for the role, BTW).
In the late '90s Hewitt became a teen queen for her work in Party of Five and the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. She even had an album back then and a rumored boob job.
Anyway.
I loved the geeks in Can't Hardly Wait, particularly the overachieving and vengeful William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo) who became top dog for one night (Trivia: Did you know he was the kid in Hook?). But There's just something about them nerds and their plot that is too reminiscent of John Hughes' Sixteen Candles (1984).
Re-watching this flick, I recognized a lot of extras who had significant roles in other late '90s teen movies - Sean Patrick Thomas (Save The Last Dance), Donald Faison (Clueless), Breckin Meyer (Clueless), Channon Roe (Girl), Clea Duvall (She's All That), Tamala Jones.
A not-yet-famous Selma Blair and Jaime Pressly were in there too for a few minutes each.
Already-famous-then Melissa Joan Hart (a.k.a. Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Jerry O'Connel and Jenna Elfman (of Dharma and Greg) had cameos.
Can't Hardly Wait isn't film at its best; I would even agree with anyone who'd say it's a poorly-made movie (note: cliches, stereotypes, predictable outcome, corny dialogues, flat characters, focus problems, continuity problems, sloppy ending et al). But it's one heck of a fun ride back to 1998.
These days we still get to see a lot of Jeniffer Love Hewitt in The Ghost Whisperer and a flop movie here and there, though I kinda think she's too cute for non-teen roles. Keeping everyone up-to-date with the public's interest in her lady parts, she became the first celebrity advocate of vajazzling.
Seth Green, who played "the wannabe" Kenny Fisher (the annoyance who thinks he's Afro-American) has since been spotted in the Austin Powers movies and The Italian Job. He's also one of the geniuses behind Robot Chicken, and the voice of Family Guy's Griffin.
Lauren Ambrose who was "the best friend" Denise Fleming as later seen in the HBO series Six Feet Under (2001).
Good for Peter Facinelli - formerly "the jock" Mike Dexter - he has a series of movies lined up as Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the Twilight Saga.
I also noticed that one of Mike Dexter's goofy henchmen was Freddy Rodriguez, who happens to be Wray in the 2007 Grindhouse movies.
I have no idea what Ethan Embry has been in lately.
