Can't Hardly Wait: 10 Year Reunion Edition – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Every generation has to have its teen movie. The ’70s saw American Graffiti and Animal House. The ’80s teens enjoyed John Hughes films such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. The teenagers of the ’90s got American Pie and the underrated classic Can’t Hardly Wait.

It’s graduation day for the class of 1998 at Huntington Hills High School, and there’s going to be a mean graduation party that night at the house of a rich classmate whose parents are out of town. Everyone is going to be there for their one last fling together. Preston Myers hopes to deliver a love letter to his longtime crush Amanda Beckett, thereby winning her heart. His best friend Denise Fleming tags along to provide moral support and sarcastic comments. Kenny Fisher is a wannabe gangsta who desperately wants to lose his virginity at the party and totes around a backpack of love gadgets to woo any and every female he sees. Mike Dexter, the jock, is at the party because that’s his crowd. And he just broke up with his girlfriend of four years, Amanda Beckett, the same girl Preston is in love with. William Lichter, the nerd, attends the party in order to have revenge on Mike Dexter for teasing him throughout high school.

Literally everyone is at the party. Every single stereotype that you’ve ever seen in high school is depicted here. There’s the guy who wants to reminisce about everything you’ve ever done together. There’s the couple that makes out all the time no matter where they are or who is in the room. There’s the foreign exchange student. There’s the stoner kids, the garage band kids, the girls who have too much to drink and take off their tops, even the washed up guy who used to be something in high school. I mean everything is represented in this movie.

With that ensemble, you’d think that everything is a bit predictable but it isn’t. The cast is what really makes this movie work. Everyone in the film has gone on to have very successful careers, whereas when this movie came out in 1998, the most famous actors in the movie were Jennifer Love Hewitt (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Party of Five) and Charlie Korsmo (Dick Tracy, What About Bob?). Watching the movie now is a bit of a trip. Everyone is recognizable: Seth Green who went on to do Family Guy and Robot Chicken, Peter Facinelli who went on to do several bombs but is going to be in the new movie Twilight, Lauren Ambrose and Freddy Rodriguez who went on to star in HBO’s Six Feet Under, Ethan Embry who has gone on to star in Eagle Eye, Vacancy, and Showtime’s Brotherhood. And that’s not even digging deeper. Selma Blair, Jerry O’Connell, Sean Patrick Thomas, Jamie Pressley, Donald Faison, Clea Duvall, Eric Balfour, Melissa Joan Hart, Breckin Meyer, and Jenna Elfman are also in this film.

What makes the cast even better is that they all have such great energy and chemistry together. Everything about this movie is believable because they make it that way. Everyone isn’t a caricature of the character’s they’re playing, they are these characters. For example, Seth Green could have easily made a mockery out of the character he’s playing, Kenny Fisher. But he doesn’t. He makes you believe that this poor kid really thinks he’s cool.

Another key element in making a teen movie a classic is the soundtrack. The soundtrack must be packed with songs that represent the time frame that is depicted. Here we get “I Can’t Get Enough of You, Baby” by Smash Mouth, “Dammit!” by Blink 182, “Graduate” by Third Eye Blind, “Farther Down” by Michael Sweet, and even “Paradise City” by Guns n’ Roses, the song that turns poor William Lichter from nerd to life of the party. These are all songs that immediately take you back to when you first heard them. A fantastic soundtrack.

Can’t Hardly Wait will always be a teen movie classic. Hopefully with this new 10 Year Reunion release, it will reach a whole new generation of teens who will love it as much as I do. Which team has the winning play? Huntington, Huntington, Hey hey HEY!

This new released version of the film is presented in a widescreen 1.33:1 aspect ratio with a remasted audio track. I’ve never ever EVER seen this movie look so good. I guess I always watched my old beat up VHS copy. It’s crisp and clean and the audio is amazing.

Huntington Hills Class of 98 Reunion – This is a fun featurette that features interviews with darn near everyone reminiscing about what they did on set and how they created their charactes. At the end, everyone speculates where their character would be now. 26:11

Can’t Hardly Wait: the Making of a Teen Classic – All of the same people from the first featurette talking about making the movie. Short interviews with Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont talking about writing the script. 25:30

Life of the Party – This featurette shows interviews with the same people from the previous two featurettes talking about how important teen movies are to teens. Then, they all talk about their graduation party stories and what they think is the most important element to throwing a fun party. 9:28

Deleted Scenes – There are six deleted scenes, all of them very short, usually showing just one line that was deleted. The best one is the very last one, titled “This Party Sucked”. It’s less than one minute long, but it features the Girl Whose Party It Is kicking Kenny out of the house at the end of the party.

Special K’s 411 Track, Yo – A version of the film with running commentary across the bottom of the screen. Some of this is very funny and very random. For example, at one point during the film, the following pops up at the bottom of the screen, “Barry Manilow fans are commonly known as ‘Fanilows'”, and “That thing on Special K’s jacket is known as a ‘beeper’ for you youngsters out there.”

You Know You’re ’90s – This is a trivia game that you control using your DVD remote. It’s actually very, very lame.

I Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby Video – The same video for the song by Smash Mouth that was featured at the end of the VHS version of the film. Remember that? When you had to wait until the end of the credits for whatever extra features were included?

Commentary with Filmmakers and Cast 10 Years Later – Feature commentary with Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, Donald Faison, Joe Michaelini, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry Elfont. This was really fun to listen to (and I had Special K’s track still going). They were all having a blast. Sometimes two or three conversations would be going on at a time. This is one of my favorite commentaries ever.

Original Commentary – This one features most of the same people as the reunion, Seth Green, Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, but is much less excited. I listened to this one last and it was probably not the best of ideas. It really pales in comparison to the new one.

Can’t Hardly Wait will remain forever one of my favorite teen movies. It’s sweet, it’s got lots of energy and heart, and it never takes itself too seriously. It’s just a lot of fun. If you’re a fan, then this 10th anniversary release is well worth the extra cash. I mean, it is the best movie ever according to Mr. Moviephone (Josie & The Pussycats).

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Sony Pictures presents Can’t Hardly Wait. Directed by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan. Starring Seth Green, Ethan Embry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli. Written by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: September 30, 2008. Available at Amazon.

Jenny is proud to be the First Lady of Inside Pulse Movies. She gives female and mommy perspective, and has two kids who help with rating family movies. (If they don't like 'em, what's the point?) She prefers horror movies to chick flicks, and she can easily hang with the guys as long as there are several frou-frou girlie drinks to be had.