The film received mixed reviews from critics. It grossed a total of $25 million at the North American domestic box office, against a production budget of $10 million. The soundtrack peaked at number 25 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Concept
The story takes place at a high school graduation party in the late 1990s and in a style much like that of the high school movies of the 1980s. The idea of setting most of the movie at a party was based primarily on concerns to keep production costs low and was also inspired by the movies of John Hughes and the party scene in Say Anything....[5][6]
In 1998, the senior class suburban high school Huntington Hillside High are attending a graduation party at the house of a rich class member. Among them is Preston Meyers, an outsider who plans to proclaim his love to his four-year secret crush Amanda Beckett.
Amanda, the most popular girl in school and the senior class prom queen, has been dumped by popular jock Mike Dexter. Mike is targeted by nerd classmate William Lichter, who is plotting revenge against him for years of bullying. Kenny Fisher is a wannabe thug who plans on losing his virginity by the end of the night.
Amanda is consoled by her popular girlfriends, but realizes she has nothing in common with them. She tries to figure out if she has an identity beyond only being known as "Mike Dexter's girlfriend".
Amanda discovers a letter addressed to her by Preston and, moved by its contents, makes it her mission to find him, though she does not know what he looks like and no one she asks gives any helpful descriptions. Meanwhile, Preston's antisocial best friend Denise Fleming and Kenny accidentally lock themselves inside a bathroom away from the party, where they talk about their old friendship and how they had drifted apart; their conversation leads to the restoration of their friendship and escalates into them having sex.
Later, an intoxicated Mike learns from Trip McNeely—a graduate and former stud from his high school—that in college, guys like them are "a dime a dozen". Trip emphasizes how he dumped his girlfriend in the same fashion that Mike did to "score" with other women and was unsuccessful. Terrified of this prospect, Mike tries to get Amanda back, but she is happier without him and humiliates him in front of everyone there.
After seeing the school jock turned down, multiple guys begin to hit on Amanda, much to her disgust. Preston finds her and professes his love, but as she still has not learned what he looks like, she assumes he is another pervert and rejects him in front of the entire party. Amanda later realizes her mistake when she sees Preston's yearbook picture and tries to find him, but he has already driven home in disappointment.
Meanwhile, William devises his plan to get revenge on Mike and goes into the party to drive him out. While there, William begins drinking alcohol to fit in, drinking enough to make him forget why he was there. An impromptu sing-along to Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" causes him to become popular, with multiple women trying to have sex with him.
William later begins talking with Mike, who apologizes for bullying him. William forgives him; the two bond and seemingly become friends. When Mike and William are jailed as a result of a police bust, Mike takes the blame.
The next morning, when William sees Mike and his friends at a diner, he tries to thank him for taking the fall. But Mike acts as though he remembers nothing that happened the previous night and again ridicules him in front of his friends.
Meanwhile, Preston is at a train station about to leave for Boston when Amanda arrives and asks him about the letter. He confesses he wrote it and is about to depart for a writing workshop with Kurt Vonnegut. The two say goodbye and Preston walks away, but then stops and runs back to Amanda. The two kiss.
The epilogue explains what later happens to all of the main characters:
William becomes one of the most popular students at Harvard. He forms a computer company that makes him worth millions, and starts dating a supermodel.
Mike goes to college but, after drinking too much, loses his football scholarship. He ends up forty pounds overweight and working at a car wash, a job he loses when incriminating Polaroids surface.
The day after the party, Denise and Kenny go to a diner; five minutes later, Denise dumps Kenny. Ten minutes later, they find a bathroom and get back together.
Seven hours later, Preston boards a train to Boston. Amanda writes him a letter for every day that he is away. They remain together.
The script for Can't Hardly Wait was originally written in 1996, by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan who were looking for a project they could develop and direct themselves on a limited budget. The project was approved by Columbia Pictures in mid-1997, following the success of teen-oriented horror film Scream in early 1997.[6] Principal photography for Can't Hardly Wait started in October 1997, and ran for 26 days.[6]Jennifer Love Hewitt was known for Party of Five when she signed on to the film, and appeared in the slasher hit I Know What You Did Last Summer, which helped to further raise her profile.[6] According to Charlie Korsmo, Adam Hann-Byrd was originally cast as William Lichter.[7]
The cast had a week of rehearsals before filming.[1]
The film initially received an R-Rating due to MPAA objections about the depiction of teens drinking alcohol at an unsupervised party and drug use. The film was recut to receive a PG-13 rating.[1]
Reception
Box office
Can't Hardly Wait was released on June 12, 1998, and grossed $8,025,910 in its opening weekend.[4] Its total domestic gross was $25,605,015, more than double its production budget.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 42% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Occasionally clever and moderately intelligent, Can't Hardly Wait also contains too many cheap laughs, recycled plotting, and flat characters."[8] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[10]
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "For all its nonstop energy and high spirits, Can't Hardly Wait allows its characters to emerge as fully dimensional individuals; they've been written with care and perception and played with equal aplomb by a roster of talented young actors".[11]Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Can't Hardly Wait has freshness, comic invention and an engaging romantic spirit."[12]
Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club wrote: "But the film deserves credit, both for its breezy pacing and its uncommon tendency to make its characters smarter and geekier than they might have been."[13]
Emanuel Levy of Variety called the film a "mediocre attempt to recapture the exuberance and candid portraiture of such high school movie classics as American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused." Levy praised the cast but was critical of the "uneven script and rough direction".[14]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, and wrote: "The kind of movie that somehow succeeds in moving very, very slowly even while proceeding at a breakneck pace. It cuts quickly back and forth between nothing and nothing... It doesn't have the zing of life and subversion that the best high school movies always have."[15]
Awards
In 2012, Entertainment Weekly ranked Can't Hardly Wait number 44 on its list of the 50 Best High School Movies of all time.[16]
Best Performance in a Feature Film — Leading Young Actress: (Jennifer Love Hewitt) Nominated
Sequel
On May 25, 2019, on Danny Pellegrino's Everything Iconicpodcast, Jennifer Love Hewitt revealed that she is developing Can't Hardly Wait 2 with plans to direct it herself. The concept revolves around the reunion of the original high school gang from the 1998 film.[17]
Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on November 17, 1998.[18] On September 30, 2008, it was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray as the "10 Year Reunion Edition" to commemorate the film's 10th anniversary. The re-release included bonus features not on the original release.[19] Mill Creek Entertainment reissued the DVD and Blu-ray on June 17, 2014, and October 30, 2018, respectively with the latter format billed as the "20 Year Reunion Edition". The film was released on 4k UHD Blu-ray on August 20, 2024, by Sony Pictures.
Can't Hardly Wait: Music From The Motion Picture is the soundtrack of the film which was released on May 26, 1998, by Elektra Records. It peaked at number 25 on the Billboard 200 chart.[20]
