Wow, Blink 182, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Seth Green, Tupac RIP references, Dharma (but not Greg) {Jenna Elfman}, that guy with the high pitched voice from Empire Records (Ethan Embry) and OMGZ!!! is that the little kid from Hook (1991) all grown up (Charles Korsmo)? Looks like this one's about the late 90s, and it's a decent example of a prime vintage.
I can't really explain the nostalgic value of seeing Jerry O'Connell drop in for a cameo, seeing Selma Blair get hit on by Mike Dexter, seeing Sabrina herself Melissa Joan Hart run around like a kid with ADHD and seeing Breckin Meyer ask us if "Anyone ordered a Love Burger?" But it is magic. And if you look really carefully, there's Jaime Pressley and Jason Segel, present at the role call as well.
When they were making this film they were looking for more than a fast hit, casting some popular young actors in a clichéd situation involving a party after the last day of High School. They made a film that encapsulated the time perfectly. Not just the fashions and attitudes, but the way movies were being made, and the way popular culture viewed the world. This movie was accurate to the time by showing its characters to be shallow, materialistic and oblivious. It didn't have anything to say about 90s teen culture, but caught what it was. While I don't give the film credit for its clichéd characterizations, I do give it credit for the way these clichés engage with each other into a coherent, though predictable whole.
The main story being told involves Amanda Beckett, who has just been dumped by her jock boyfriend Mike Dexter. Nerdy classmate Preston Meyers, flanked by his nerdy friend Denise Fleming, decides that this is the night, at the end of High School Party, to confess his love for Amanda. And that's pretty much it. There are a lot of subplots and minor characters but it all happens around the main narrative.
Ethan Embry, as Meyers, is pretty funny, Korsmo, as a vengeful nerd seeking revenge on Mike Dexter for a life time of cruel pranks is actually pretty good. Lauren Ambrose is decent as Denise, but her character is annoying and quite hypocritical. Most of the cast come across well in limited screen time, and some good cameos and funny scenes fort the trailer, with a theme by Smashmouth "I can't get Enough of you Baby," and it was a minor hit at the time it came out.
More than a decade later, Can't Hardy Wait is the ultimate nostalgia fix. It looks like a 90s movie, follows all the conventions of a 90s movie and is made like a 90s movie. Not intelligent, but still entertaining. I'll admit a personal bias, but still recommend it if you are a fan of the era.
I can't really explain the nostalgic value of seeing Jerry O'Connell drop in for a cameo, seeing Selma Blair get hit on by Mike Dexter, seeing Sabrina herself Melissa Joan Hart run around like a kid with ADHD and seeing Breckin Meyer ask us if "Anyone ordered a Love Burger?" But it is magic. And if you look really carefully, there's Jaime Pressley and Jason Segel, present at the role call as well.
When they were making this film they were looking for more than a fast hit, casting some popular young actors in a clichéd situation involving a party after the last day of High School. They made a film that encapsulated the time perfectly. Not just the fashions and attitudes, but the way movies were being made, and the way popular culture viewed the world. This movie was accurate to the time by showing its characters to be shallow, materialistic and oblivious. It didn't have anything to say about 90s teen culture, but caught what it was. While I don't give the film credit for its clichéd characterizations, I do give it credit for the way these clichés engage with each other into a coherent, though predictable whole.
The main story being told involves Amanda Beckett, who has just been dumped by her jock boyfriend Mike Dexter. Nerdy classmate Preston Meyers, flanked by his nerdy friend Denise Fleming, decides that this is the night, at the end of High School Party, to confess his love for Amanda. And that's pretty much it. There are a lot of subplots and minor characters but it all happens around the main narrative.
Ethan Embry, as Meyers, is pretty funny, Korsmo, as a vengeful nerd seeking revenge on Mike Dexter for a life time of cruel pranks is actually pretty good. Lauren Ambrose is decent as Denise, but her character is annoying and quite hypocritical. Most of the cast come across well in limited screen time, and some good cameos and funny scenes fort the trailer, with a theme by Smashmouth "I can't get Enough of you Baby," and it was a minor hit at the time it came out.
More than a decade later, Can't Hardy Wait is the ultimate nostalgia fix. It looks like a 90s movie, follows all the conventions of a 90s movie and is made like a 90s movie. Not intelligent, but still entertaining. I'll admit a personal bias, but still recommend it if you are a fan of the era.