# Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

### reviewed by
Michael Dequina

Can't Hardly Wait (PG-13) ** (out of ****)

Trust me, you _can_ wait for this messy throwback to '80s teen comedies. A big, post-graduation blowout bash is the setting at which a number of new high school graduates set out to resolve some long-simmering issues, most prominently the shy Preston's (Ethan Embry) unspoken love for the popular Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who was just dumped by her jock boyfriend Mike (Peter Facinelli). This thread is supposed to be the emotional hook of the piece, but it is done in by the underwritten character of Amanda; Preston claims to see the "person inside" her glammed-up exterior, but the audience is never treated to a glimpse of this purported interior soul. All that shows up on screen is an above-it-all, constantly bitching snob, and as such writer-directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont do a disservice to the engaging performance of Embry.

Far more involving--and upstaging the central action--is a subplot following the unlikely but inevitable romance between Preston's acerbic best friend Denise (the delightful Lauren Ambrose) and Ebonics-spouting white boy Kenny (a hilarious Seth Green), who find themselves locked in a bathroom together. This thread is sweet yet raucous, and often very funny, which is the mix Kaplan and Elfont obviously strived for in their other storylines. But all else, including a predictable arc about the geeky valedictorian's (Charlie Korsmo) beef with Mike, quickly grows tiresome, as does the movie as a whole.

Michael Dequina mrbrown@ucla.edu | michael_jordan@geocities.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com

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