Because I spend so much time with new releases these days, I don’t get many opportunities to check out older titles that I missed along the way. Granted, our attempts to add special pages like the ones dedicated to Best Picture winners or the AFI Top 100 keep me busy, but I don’t often rent other kinds of DVDs that don’t fit these parameters.

However, once in a while something piques my curiosity and I need to make an exception. After I reviewed the abysmal Josie and the Pussycats, I read other folks’ reviews and learned some details about the DVD for Can’t Hardly Wait, another flick from Josie’s directors. Though my dislike for Josie should have dissuaded me from any interest in their other work, one element of the DVD intrigued me. I heard it had a terrific audio commentary. Since I’m a huge fan of those tracks, I decided that I needed to give Wait a look.

The biggest downside of this choice stemmed from the fact that I needed to actually watch Wait before I could enjoy the commentary. Based on my experience with Josie, this prospect didn’t delight me. However, while Wait failed to thrill me, I found it to offer a reasonably witty and entertaining teen comedy that kept me moderately interested.

Wait focuses on the evening after graduation for some high school students. All of the action revolves around one big party that follows this event. The film boasts a huge roster of participants, but some main characters evolve. Most touted are Mike (Peter Facinelli) and Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the allegedly perfect couple who broke up on graduation day after four years together. An arrogant jock who dreams of grander pastures with college women, Mike dumped Amanda so he could play the field. This humiliates her to a degree, but matters eventually backfire when Mike discovers that single life isn’t as hot as he imagined.

While this matter upsets Amanda, it elates Preston (Ethan Embry), the slightly-dorky dude who has dreamed of her ever since she came to their school in ninth grade. After four long years, he finally sees his chance, and he pours his heart into a much-refined letter meant to attract her. Unfortunately, he’s a bit of a wimp, and he dilly-dallies through much of the film until he can finally muster the courage to deal with her.

Preston’s cynical friend Denise (Lauren Ambrose) has issues of her own. She confronts these with Kenny (Seth Green), one of the school’s wannabe black kids; Kenny’s as white as they come, but he feigns street attitude and garb, all of which make him feel like the baddest of the bad. Unfortunately for him, none of the girls at the party agree, and his oft-stated desire to get laid goes nowhere. However, in an attempt to get back at her cheating boyfriend, one tipsy female says she’ll do him. Kenny needs to purge his bladder first, however, an enterprise that ends poorly when Denise accidentally locks the two of them in the bathroom. There they discuss their estranged relationships; they’d been close in younger days but he ditched her to seem cool once they hit middle school.

Rounding out our main roster is William (Charlie Korsmo), a serious nerd who wants to get revenge on Mike for all the nasty things he did to him over the years. With his dorky friends, William conjures a plan to humiliate Mike, but he gets badly sidetracked along the way. He downs a few beers to fit in, but this loosens him up and makes him behave in unusual ways, all with interesting results.

Although Can’t Hardly Wait tries to include some “coming of age” aspects, its heart isn’t in this form of introspection. Instead, the film works best as a giddy romp through a rowdy party. The movie flits rapidly from character to character, and the camera rarely remains still. Instead, it prefers a “fly on the wall” attitude that combines a number of storylines within one spastic package.

For filmmakers like directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, this is the best way to go. As demonstrated during Josie, their talents don’t suit movies that try to have any particular message or point, so Wait works most effectively when it simply provides a gleeful skewering of high school cliques and stereotypes. Because of that, the flick’s first half seems most compelling; the second segment tries to get deeper, but these attempts generally fall flat. Granted, they were expected for this sort of film, but they still didn’t come across particularly well. At times, it appeared like they wanted to make an updated version of American Graffiti, but such aspirations are beyond the directors’ reach.

However, that doesn’t mean that they can’t make a fairly fun and entertaining little romp. Wait succeeds best when it flits about rapidly. Once the movie sticks with any single subject for too long, it becomes somewhat tiresome and bland. The chaos of the situation is its strongest aspect, and the film seems most entertaining when it takes advantage of that.

Ultimately, not much about Can’t Hardly Wait sets it strongly above its teen brethren, but I must admit that it definitely is a better flick than most in the genre. It suffers from some of the usual pitfalls, and it can be slow-paced and dull at times, but the moderate satire found in its portrayals allows it to become fun and witty at times. In the end, Can’t Hardly Wait was a forgettable but enjoyable little flick.

Can’t Hardly Wait appears in both an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 and in a fullscreen version on this double-sided, single-layered DVD; the widescreen image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Only the widescreen picture was reviewed for this article. Though not immaculate, as a whole the DVD provided a very pleasing picture.

Sharpness appeared to be consistently excellent. Throughout the film, I thought it looked crisp and detailed. Virtually no examples of softness existed during this distinct image. Moiré effects and jagged edges presented no concerns, but print flaws were a modest issue. Some low-light shots betrayed minor grain, and periodic examples of grit and speckles also marred the presentation on occasion. In addition, I noted a scratch or two.

Colors looked nicely bright and vibrant throughout the movie. Wait featured a vivid and varied palette that suited this perky comedy, and the DVD replicated these hues well. The mix of tones seemed to be both bold and accurate, with no problems related to bleeding, noise or other concerns. Black levels appeared to be fairly deep and rich, and shadow detail looked acceptably opaque but not overly thick. A few low-light sequences seemed be to a little muddy, but these were rare. As a whole, Can’t Hardly Wait looked quite good.

Although I expected the movie to present a nice image, the activity level offered by the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Can’t Hardly Wait surprised me. The soundfield provided a nicely immersive and vivid affair that used all five channels to solid effect. Music accompanied most of the movie, and the songs blasted cleanly from the speakers. The tunes showed good differentiation among the channels and they added a nice element to the mix.

Effects and dialogue also showed up in the side and rear speakers, and they became a good complement to the action. A fair amount of speech emanated from the individual channels, an aspect of the mix that cropped up neatly during the film’s opening sequence; as unpictured teens set up the movie’s actions, their voices came from all around us. Effects also used the different speakers well, as these elements created a solidly realistic and convincing environment that blended together well.

Audio quality also seemed to be fairly good. Some speech displayed modest edginess, but most of the dialogue sounded acceptably warm and natural, and I detected no problems related to intelligibility. Effects were distinct and accurate, and they showed no signs of distortion or other concerns. The many tunes played in the movie also fared well. They displayed very good dynamic range, with clean highs and reasonably low and rich bass. Ultimately, Can’t Hardly Wait provided a very solid auditory experience that worked nicely for the film.

In addition, this DVD release of Can’t Hardly Wait includes a few supplements. Most significant of these is the audio commentary I mentioned at the start of my review. This piece includes directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan plus actor Seth Green and producers Jenno Topping and Betty Thomas. All were recorded together for this running, screen-specific affair. Note that Thomas doesn’t enter until about 55 minutes into the commentary.

Based on what I read elsewhere, it was Green’s contribution that promised to offer the most fun. At the start of the track, he speaks with a British accent for no apparent reason. This provokes a couple of remarks from the others and he stops after a fairly brief interval. This aspect of the commentary disappointed me because I hoped Green would carry his gag to a greater extreme. The sheer perversity inherent in his decision was delightful, and based on what I read elsewhere, I thought he’d continue to annoy the others to a much greater degree. As it stood, the accent wasn’t much of an issue, and it took little for him to cease. I was seriously disappointed when he quit.

Despite that letdown, I really enjoyed this track. The commentary for Wait was easily one of the whiniest I’ve ever heard, but I mean that as a compliment. The vast majority of these recordings offer far too much happy talk and praise. To be certain, I heard a little about how talented some of the participants were, but for the most part, this was a gleefully crotchety track.

Throughout the piece, the speakers told us what they did wrong and pointed out errors. They also discussed all of the changes they had to make to get their “PG-13” rating, and they clearly wished that these hadn’t occurred. They rag on each other to a degree, and they spill dirt about absent collaborators. All of this was wrapped in a lively, coherent package that rarely ceased to be entertaining and irreverent.

Actually, it could have been even more wild, but a few edits seemed to be apparent; it sounded as though some bits had to be cut from the final piece, as the gaps almost always occurred as the participants – usually Green, who clearly has no censorship set – said whatever was on their minds. Even with those omissions, this was still a great little commentary that offered much more fun than anyone had a right to expect.

A few other small elements round out the package. We find a surprisingly interesting music video for Smash Mouth’s “Can’t Get Enough Of You, Baby”. The clip uses the standard format; we find a mix of lip-synched performance footage from the band and snippets from the movie. However, the “live” segments show a bright and fun Sixties look, and they seem entertaining and vivid. In addition, the video includes a cameo from Jennifer Love Hewitt, who looks especially hot.

Lastly, we get a Stills Gallery with 14 fairly bland publicity and production shots, and we also discover the film’s theatrical trailer. The latter includes some footage cut from the final movie, and it seems like a minor misrepresentation of the flick. The ad makes the picture looks more reflective and introspective than it really is. For example, the scene in which Denise stresses to Kenny that he’s white is played solely for laughs in the final film; however, the trailer lets us believe that this is some sort of dramatic confrontation between the two.

One disappointment in regard to the extras: during the commentary, I constantly heard about scenes that had been cut from the final film. Clearly the participants liked those snippets and wanted them to remain in the movie. However, ratings considerations wouldn’t allow this, and they often remark that they hope the excised footage will end up on the DVD. It doesn’t; I found no signs of any deleted scenes. Perhaps the studio refused to include any unrated material, but it was too bad those clips didn’t appear.

Nonetheless, Can’t Hardly Wait was a fairly solid little package. The film wasn’t a classic, but it offered a reasonably bright and amusing teen flick. Members of that age group will clearly like it best, but old folks like me can still derive some enjoyment from it. The DVD provided very solid picture and sound plus one of the best audio commentaries I’ve ever heard. Overall, this was a nice DVD that should merit your attention.