For as superficial and unoriginal as the "Can't Hardly Wait" is, I must admit that I found it be entertaining in the early moments. The conversations, music and bouncy energy of it all is funny in a frivolous way, which is enough for a movie like this one. It's all perfectly benign, intermittently charming enough to elicit a smile but not funny enough to make anyone laugh out loud. It's noisy enough to make its presence felt but not so loud that anyone is rattled. And It's considerate enough to cause an occasional slight head tilt in thought but not provocative enough to lead to any serious exploration.
An average guy and his platonic female friend fill the roles of the two lead characters. I won't mention their names because I don't remember and honestly it doesn't matter anyway. The guy has obsessed over some pretty girl for years despite never uttering so much as a single word to her. Through high school he has remained convinced that they are cosmically tethered because they both ate strawberry Pop Tarts in class once (he talks about Pop Tarts as if they are some sort of immaculate French pastry, which illustrates precisely how distorted this dude's world view is).
His female friend rolls her eyes at him because she rolls her eyes at everything. What's her story? Not much. She goes to high school and doesn't like it. Cool. She must be a blast to hang out with.
The guy learns that the popular jock dating the girl of his dreams has recently dumped said girl so he can date college women. This is average guy's chance, he decides, so he plans to give dream girl his letter that professes his love to her. It's a silly plan, but this is a silly movie, so it is to be expected.
All the characters are delusional, caring deeply about the shallowest of everyday things. Everyone feels like a token representative of one group or another, even if many of these groups are not representative of a real high school student body. The jocks are at their jockiest, the overachiever strives to conquer one more challenge, the disillusioned girl thinks this is all lame, the band thinks this could be their big break, and yada yada. Each of the kids is a caricature of some broadly defined click. Cartoonishness is not limited to the people at the party - the part itself is a caricature. Somehow the whole movie manages to be completely cliché without being in any way accurate.
Amidst all the shallow events that litter the movie, there is one genuinely tender moment. After the jock decides he wants to get back with dream girl, she rejects him. Embarrassed, he calls her out in front of a crowd, exclaiming, "Who would want you now?" It's a brutally dehumanizing thing to say. But she stands strong and replies, "Somebody." The moment is sweet and would actually be moving, except the moment is undercut by the fact that this girl is beautiful and has had guys chasing her constantly from the second she became single earlier that day.
Still, I must admit, I kind of liked the scene. That's how I felt about the movie overall. It's flawed in very obvious ways that are easy to make fun of (which is why I made fun of it), and yet it still has a certain level of likability. All things considered, I'm glad I watched it.
An average guy and his platonic female friend fill the roles of the two lead characters. I won't mention their names because I don't remember and honestly it doesn't matter anyway. The guy has obsessed over some pretty girl for years despite never uttering so much as a single word to her. Through high school he has remained convinced that they are cosmically tethered because they both ate strawberry Pop Tarts in class once (he talks about Pop Tarts as if they are some sort of immaculate French pastry, which illustrates precisely how distorted this dude's world view is).
His female friend rolls her eyes at him because she rolls her eyes at everything. What's her story? Not much. She goes to high school and doesn't like it. Cool. She must be a blast to hang out with.
The guy learns that the popular jock dating the girl of his dreams has recently dumped said girl so he can date college women. This is average guy's chance, he decides, so he plans to give dream girl his letter that professes his love to her. It's a silly plan, but this is a silly movie, so it is to be expected.
All the characters are delusional, caring deeply about the shallowest of everyday things. Everyone feels like a token representative of one group or another, even if many of these groups are not representative of a real high school student body. The jocks are at their jockiest, the overachiever strives to conquer one more challenge, the disillusioned girl thinks this is all lame, the band thinks this could be their big break, and yada yada. Each of the kids is a caricature of some broadly defined click. Cartoonishness is not limited to the people at the party - the part itself is a caricature. Somehow the whole movie manages to be completely cliché without being in any way accurate.
Amidst all the shallow events that litter the movie, there is one genuinely tender moment. After the jock decides he wants to get back with dream girl, she rejects him. Embarrassed, he calls her out in front of a crowd, exclaiming, "Who would want you now?" It's a brutally dehumanizing thing to say. But she stands strong and replies, "Somebody." The moment is sweet and would actually be moving, except the moment is undercut by the fact that this girl is beautiful and has had guys chasing her constantly from the second she became single earlier that day.
Still, I must admit, I kind of liked the scene. That's how I felt about the movie overall. It's flawed in very obvious ways that are easy to make fun of (which is why I made fun of it), and yet it still has a certain level of likability. All things considered, I'm glad I watched it.