Beloved Teen Comedy Holds Up

Some movies wind up having a cast that ages like a fine wine. As I watched the new Can’t Hardly Wait 4K release, it was wild seeing just how many familiar faces are in the 1998 teen comedy. Beyond the retroactively stacked main cast, even minor characters are played by actors who would later find additional success, such as Jason Segel, Jaime Pressly, Donald Faison, Selma Blair, Eric Balfour, Leslie Grossman, and many more.

“It’s graduation day at Huntington Hills High — a time for Pomp and Circumstance, tassels and mortarboards, and serious introspection about the future. But tonight, the seniors will leave all that behind for the things that really matter: romance, revenge, and rock ‘n’ roll. Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt star in one raucous comedy about the ultimate teen party, a once-in-a-lifetime alternate universe where class nerds become class studs, super-jocks are humiliated, and freshman crushes blossom into grown-up romance,” says the official description.

Can’t Hardly Wait doesn’t quite qualify as a classic teen comedy, but it’s not far off from John Hughes’ movies. Taking place almost exclusively at a party after a high school class graduates, it deals with the changing lives of its young ensemble cast. The core love story revolves around Ethan Embry and Jennifer Love Hewitt, but it’s a side plot with Seth Green and Lauren Ambrose that really leaves an impact. Green is particularly hilarious, but the whole cast does a good job of playing their characters well and making a smart script work on screen.

The Can’t Hardly Wait 4K release is the first time the film has been available in UHD, but it’s not a crazy leap from past Blu-ray releases. It’s a teen comedy, after all, so you’re not getting a visual spectacle. However, it looks and sounds great — the film has a particularly great soundtrack — and is the definitive release.

There are also a ton of great bonus features available. There’s not one but two different commentary tracks featuring the directors and members of the cast, one from the original DVD release and another that was recorded for the Blu-ray release a decade later. There’s also a 26-minute “reunion” featurette that shows the stars of the film reminiscing on the movie’s legacy a decade later, which was made for the Blu-ray, plus a 14-minute making-of featurette that goes behind the scenes on production.

While it’s mostly comprised of previously available bonus features, there are seven-and-a-half minutes of new deleted and alternate scenes. Other bonuses include a nine-and-a-half-minute “Life of the Party” featurette going over the teen comedy genre’s appeal, more deleted scenes, and the video for Smash Mouth’s “I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” cover. Needless to say, there’s a ton of extra content for fans to really sink their teeth into.

Can’t Hardly Wait 4K Review: Final Verdict

The new Can’t Hardly Wait 4K release is an easy recommendation for fans of the teen comedy. It’s a highly rewatchable movie that looks and sounds great and comes with a ton of bonus features. What more could you want from a release? It’s a film that has only become more interesting with time and serves as a nice time capsule of the 90s in retrospect, featuring a talented cast and a lot of nostalgia.

Disclosure: ComingSoon received product from publisher for our Can’t Hardy Wait 4K review.