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Aside from that main point, “Can’t Hardly Wait” is a movie about a house party on the last day of high school. It’s also a story of hopeless love; the kind only teens know best and do best. The kind where you go through your entire high school experience, feeling the same way about one special person. The connection can be silent, with just the occasional glance back and forth, and sometimes, it can eventuate to more. But in the case of our leading character Preston, he goes through his five years of high school with one mad crush on one girl, but can never muster up the guts to tell her. Until the last night of school rolls around, and the news spreads fast that his long time crush Amanda has just broken up with her boyfriend. Preston decides it’s now or never, and intends to pour out his heart and lay it all on the line for this girl, whatever it takes.
But before he gets there, we’re all invited to the House Party to end ALL House Parties. Many teen films feature this long-standing tradition as just one or two scenes in their story, but CHW bases most of its running time at one house party. Not as generation defining as “American Pie”, CHW is still a signature teen film for the 90’s, primarily because of it’s cast, but also it’s soundtrack. Ethan Embry is well cast in the role of Preston; the goofy, hapless romantic who finally steps up to the plate on the last day of school. His best friend Denise (Lauren Ambrose) is the quiet, reclusive girl in school, with a sour distaste for her peers and society in general. You can just tell she’ll probably go onto college and lead a social movement or feminist group of some kind. Then there’s Kenny (Seth Green); the little white guy pretending to be a black guy. His single mission at this party is to hook up with one lucky lady, and he has his list of ten potentials worked out, as well as a backpack full of foreplay and intercourse accompaniments of every type and taste. Then there’s William (Charlie Korsom); the nerd of the school. Having spent most of his high school years being chased by bullies and playing with a train set in his basement, his conquest for this fateful end of school ceremony, is to get back at the bully who made his life hell for the past four years.
That bully is Mike (Peter Facinelli); the high school jock, captain of the football team, most popular guy in school and also the idiot who just dumped his girlfriend on the last day of school. Cue our beautiful belle of the film, Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt); the hottest girl in school and most elusive, up until today. Now she’s single, and every guy wants her. But Preston believes it’s his time and his moment to deliver the letter he wrote in 8th grade, and tell this girl how he really feels. Each of these characters is introduced in a year book montage of sorts, and each gets their own perfectly picked background song to go with their entry.
That bully is Mike (Peter Facinelli); the high school jock, captain of the football team, most popular guy in school and also the idiot who just dumped his girlfriend on the last day of school. Cue our beautiful belle of the film, Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt); the hottest girl in school and most elusive, up until today. Now she’s single, and every guy wants her. But Preston believes it’s his time and his moment to deliver the letter he wrote in 8th grade, and tell this girl how he really feels. Each of these characters is introduced in a year book montage of sorts, and each gets their own perfectly picked background song to go with their entry.
You’ve got to hand it to the filmmakers of CHW, as they really did put some fun and energy into proceedings here, when it could have just been a lacklustre, and totally forgettable teen flick, But the cast are good in their respective roles, and the movie is quite funny. If you thought ninety minutes of running time set totally in a house party would get boring, think again. Watching the film, you feel like you’re in the party, and move about the overly crowded house as we follow our characters around. Once Amanda arrives, shocking everyone she actually came because she’s just been dumped, Preston tries to move in for his confession of love. But he’s stopped at every turn, either by someone trying to recall an embarrassing story, his loyalty to his friend Denise who is clearly not enjoying herself at this party or a foreign exchange student who can’t speak English asking if he’d like to touch his penis.
Matters get worse for Denise when she’s locked in a bathroom with Kenny, who was in there gearing up for his one night stand. We find out these two were friends in primary school, but when they graduated to the secondary years, Kenny got too cool and tried to forget he even knew Denise. But with the party’s noise so loud it drowns out their calls for help from the second floor, they’re trapped in this bathroom for the night. Meanwhile, Mike tries to convince his best buddies to dump their girlfriends as well, so they can all head out and start picking up real women. But these guys are not so determined as Mike, and can’t resits the temptations of their hot girlfriends. In the background, William plots his revenge against Mike, incorporating the help of his two even nerdier friends to hide in the backyard and spring the trap to really embarrass the jock who made all their lives hell. But William is so distracted by the party – getting drunk for the first time – he actually becomes the star of the night, leading the house party in a live version of “Paradise City” as the band can’t get themselves organised and perform.
So there’s not much plot here, rather just a string of random incidents that are pretty funny and well staged. Around all the shenanigans, Preston inches closer and closer to Amanda to tell her how he feels, but hit’s a snag when he thinks he sees her hooking up with another guy. He leaves the party heartbroken, but will eventually muster up the courage to tell the girl of his dreams how he really feels. And it’s a pretty sweet moment. This film kind of reminds me of a girl I liked in high school. In my eyes, she was the most beautiful girl in school, and also the most mysterious. We would exchange looks, but more often it was me trying to show her that I liked her. In my socially segregated year level, I didn’t think I had the guts to go up and speak to her; it’s funny what kind of fears we have when we’re young. I don’t know if the feeling was mutual, and nothing ever came of it. But this film kind of gave me hope I would be able to tell a girl how I really felt, which wouldn’t happen in high school. That didn’t bother me, because high school was short-lived.
And as for the parties of my high school days. I know there were regular ones held in my year level, and I didn’t get to them because I was, how do I put this… not asked. But again, that didn’t bother me, because funnily enough I got on better with the students two years above me, who were all friends of my sister. She was part of the group who went to the parties, and often those parties were at our house. We lived close to the high school, so everyone knew how to find our house. We were also a five minute walk from the shops, and the bottle shop, so it was ideal. The parties were pretty low key, but fun. I hung around in the background, had the odd beer or two and busted some guys smoking pot in the backyard. It was all hush-hush of course, and nothing crazy ever happened. Unlike in this film, when the police eventually arrive to crash the party. The chaos that ensues as an entire graduating senior year level high tails it and leaves the house any way they can is hilarious and a nice touch to the whole approach with this movie; it’s simply a good time.
And does Preston get the girl? Well, if you’ve seen it, you know what happens. If you haven’t seen it, what do you think? I won’t ruin it for you, and the film doesn’t end exactly how you might think. Each character gets their closure and appropriate sign off, once again in year book fashion, and those two nerds who waited in the backyard to pounce on Mike the bully even get their own send off. Given they’re both huge X-Files fans, you could say they get the best send off ever, when a beam of light appears above their heads and they are whisked away on some interstellar adventure. Sure, it’s silly, but it’s a funny, memorable movie.
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And does Preston get the girl? Well, if you’ve seen it, you know what happens. If you haven’t seen it, what do you think? I won’t ruin it for you, and the film doesn’t end exactly how you might think. Each character gets their closure and appropriate sign off, once again in year book fashion, and those two nerds who waited in the backyard to pounce on Mike the bully even get their own send off. Given they’re both huge X-Files fans, you could say they get the best send off ever, when a beam of light appears above their heads and they are whisked away on some interstellar adventure. Sure, it’s silly, but it’s a funny, memorable movie.
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