In a strange story at a high school where 500 senior high school seniors decided to make a strong party at school. Perhaps the boy wants to bring a girl who has been loved for years, and separated from her boyfriend, but things have evolved beyond that. Things turned out completely, as the concert turned into dancing, dancing, drinking wine, dancing women and so on, which completely contradicted the school's guiding principles.
There are signs that Can't Hardly Wait once had more serious aspirations... But in the final edit, at least, it's the dumb, broad slapstick that prevails, short-circuiting identification with the characters before it can begin.
Fortunately, some of the appealing young performers -- who include Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose and, especially, Seth Green -- manage to emerge from the film's generic suburban-teen backdrop.
Flat characters are stuck in underdeveloped situations in this attempt by first-time directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont to recapture the mood of a John Hughes 1980s teen comedy.
The majority of the film is mired in magazine cliches and tired gags. Oh, look, the foreign exchange student only knows how to say he's a sex machine, haw! And the nerd's getting drunk! Hoo!
