Every half decade or so, a seminal coming of age film appears on the scene. In 1973, it was American Graffiti, George Lucas' homage to youth in 1962. Five years later, John Landis directed Animal House, a more twisted and ridiculous version of a similar subject. And in 1982, Amy Heckerling introduced a bevy of future Hollywood stars in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Each film had a big impact, and even though the first two were set in the early '60s, they each said something about youth at the time of their release.
Can't Hardly Wait also says something about youth, although it's hard to view it as a seminal work of cinema. These kids 'can't hardly' wait, although for what, nobody knows. They've just graduated from high school and now there's one last big party, followed by the 'who knows?' of post-high school life.
We follow the graduating students through the party and watch to see how things unfold. Whose dreams will come true and who will come out looking like a loser? It's remarkable how the stereotypes of 25 years ago remain prevalent today. American Graffiti had nerds, cheerleaders, jocks, the cool and the uncool. Same thing in Can't Hardly Wait. It's kind of reassuring and depressing at the same time.
One noticeable difference is that the kids portrayed in the earlier movies listened to music that was new at the time the movie was set, while Can't Hardly Wait has more music from the '70s and '80s than the 1990s. Are today's teens more open-minded than in the past, or do we just live in an uninspired age of cultural recycling?
There's nothing new here, and no great moral insights. Like its predecessors, nice guys tend to finish first, and heavy drinking generally leads to good times. We cheer for the nice guys and girls to finish first, and sure enough, they do.
