Questions Raised Make ‘Wait’ Worthwhile

As high school movies go, “Can’t Hardly Wait” has all the elements to attract teenagers, teenagers-in-training and anyone who wants to remember being a teen caught up in the rawest social dramas of nascent adult life.

Will love-struck Preston (Ethan Embry) spill his guts to shapely prom queen Amanda (TV’s Jennifer Love Hewitt)? Will the popular but shallow Mike (Peter Facinelli) get Amanda to take him back?

Will childhood pals Kenny (TV’s Seth Green) and Denise (Lauren Ambrose) experiment with sex in the bathroom? Will the drunk and brainy William (Charlie Korsmo) be as popular tomorrow as he is tonight?

Will the band settle its creative differences over what to wear? Will the nerds fall off the roof playing “Star Wars”? And how will the hostess ever explain this to her parents?

Still, several kids felt the one-night soap opera fell short of its potential.

“It could have been really good,” said Amanda Smith, 17, of Irvine, who wished the characters were as relevant and satisfying as those in the ‘80s high school movies “Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink.”

Samantha Robinson, 16, of Irvine would consider seeing it again--but only on video.

The girls were cool, but Dava Schatz, 14, of Mission Viejo said: “At times, it was kind of stupid. Overall, it was just getting on my nerves.”

Some parts that were supposed to be funny fell flat, he added, referring to Kenny’s failed efforts to mimic black street slang. “I laughed a couple of times,” he said. “Out of 10, I’d give it a 7.”

Sarah Prickett, 14, of Tustin was confused by a long episode in which Preston gets advice--from a stripper dressed in angel wings--about the limitations of fate: “What was the point of the demented angel? That was just stupid.”

Her cousin, Sabrina Pickett, 15, of Lucerne Valley, enjoyed the messages she found in the collection of stories. “I liked everything. Everyone had their own little moral, their own part in the story.”

For instance, Mike learns that college girls prefer brainy guys over crude jocks. Preston learns to express himself.

Daniel Prickett, 12, of Glendora liked the postscripts that explained what happened to the characters in later life--especially when it appeared justice would eventually prevail.

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GROWN-UP PERSPECTIVE--April Leman of Anaheim said the party situation, awash in alcohol and sexual innuendo, presented “a little drastic” image of high school parties for junior high students. Though the characters used profanity freely, she said: “I didn’t hear too much bad language in it. Those are minor words. Everyone around that age says that.”