"Can't Hardly Wait" and the Final "Saw" (about time!)

Film 67
Can't Hardly Wait

This is a classic high school film from 1998 starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry, as well as a plethora of other 90s actors that were young at the time and went on to bigger and better things. But hey, everyone needs a point they can look back on as the time in their life/career that marks a significant point.
For example:
Lauren Ambrose- went on to "Six Feet Under"  fame
Seth Green- what hasn't the guy been in (but I loved him as Oz in "Buffy" and also, Robot Chicken and the voice of Chris on "Family Guy")
Peter Facinelli- Twilight fame (if it should be called that)
Sean Patrick Thomas- Cruel Intentions and Save the Last Dance
Donald Faison- Clueless and Scrubs
Jaime Pressly- My Name is Earl
Clea DuVall, Jason Segel, Selma Blair, Breckin Myers, Sarah Rue, Eric Balfour and Jerry O'Connell even make brief appearances in what is clearly an ensemble piece.

Sure, when held up against other films in the high school genre, it doesn't exactly compete, but it works for me. It's a film I can always watch, no matter what. If I just need a quick laugh and a taste of nostalgia, I'll put it on. But when I want a greater high school film, sure, I'll watch ones like:
Say Anything
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Dazed and Confused
Porky's

And let's be honest, it's not a great film, whose plot perhaps hasn't been done to death, brought back to life, killed and then done to death again, but it works for me. The entire takes place at a seemingly popular girl's house the night of graduation. Everyone goes to the party. Anyone who is anyone, and then even people who seem out of place. That's what I had trouble with, remember high school for myself...there were definite cliques and there would not have been one gigantic party. There would have been several and maybe only one or two that were actually talked about. How did everyone in this class get along with each other enough to spend their last night of high school together.
But then, also, we all knew people exactly like these people in high school in this movie. There is almost every single stereotype.

Mike Dexter- the asshole jock
Amanda Beckett- the prettiest girl, popular
Preston Myers- the outsider, loner guy in love
William Lichter- the typical nerd/geek that wants revenge or to to be accepted
Denise Fleming- the outsider, loner girl who hates all of it
Kenny Fisher- the white kid who thinks he's black
And then a handful of groupies and roadies, alike- there's even some dudes in a band

I knew everyone single one of these people in my own high school experience. I was a drifter. I like to think I was liked by (almost) everyone in my class. At least I don't believe I ever gave anyone a reason to not like me. Tell me otherwise.

It centers on Ethan Embry's character finally gaining the courage to speak with Amanda (Jennifer L. Hewitt) and telling her how he feels (how he has felt for the past 4 years). The trouble is things kept getting in the way. And when he does speak his mind, it comes off as trite and cheap, at least to Amanda, perhaps because it's at this party.
Perhaps I connected with this film when I first saw it and every time because it makes me think how much I was like Preston. I had a major crush on one girl in high school. Dominique. She was the epitome of a girl. Beautiful .Girl Next Door. Funny. Smart. Unbelievable. And for the longest time, I didn't think she knew I existed, other than to be a shadow. I may have been slightly obsessed with her, to a degree. No other girl was on my radar for 4 years. I wanted to be with Dominique. And I wanted to leave myself open and ready for when the day came that she would finally look at me and see me. Sure, we ended up being great friends. It helped that we worked together at....wait for it...Wendy's for about a year. We shared some great times. And I think she finally got to see me in a different light. But nothing would never change the fact that she only saw me as a great "friend." I had defined the idea of the "Friend Zone" at that point in my life and there was never going to be any chance of getting out of it. No matter how hard I tried. Or even told her how much I wanted to be with her. Believe she knew, even if I never made it known. Hell, it even became somewhat of a joke among our classmates. I appreciated the joke, but I would have done anything to make it a reality.
I'm not sure if I ever wrote her a letter expressing all my feelings and thoughts towards her like Preston does for Amanda. I've always been good with words. But she is definitely the one that got away, the one that I never had a hook on to begin with so I shouldn't be upset. And yes, I eventually moved on, but I never got that train-station kiss from her like the end of the movie. I guess that's always been my problem: I've wanted my life to be exactly like all the movies I've seen and loved. The trouble is, trying to hard never makes it work out. I've learned through each experience to just let things be. And maybe that's why as a script this film doesn't exactly work, because they're trying to make a story work that just wouldn't flesh itself out in real life. The only "Real" character is Lauren Ambrose's Denise, but the trouble is no one really wants to be her friend and she is completely out of place at this party, and she knows it.
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"Saw: The Final Chapter"
Thank God, this franchise is finally ending. Game over.
Here is a franchise that should have never been a franchise. I mean the original "Saw" with Cary Elwes was actually pretty good, because it was more psychological than a gross-out fest. They should have let this film stand on its own. Instead, they saw dollar signs (lots of them, until people starting catching on that the entire concept was ridiculous). They made 7 films. It got so ridiculous that VH1 had a reality series called "Scream Queens" that catered to finding a "Guest appearance" in the next, upcoming "Saw" film. I hate reality shows to begin with, and this just seemed far-fetched, but exactly to the point, because let's face it anyone on a reality show is looking for their 15 minutes of fame...and at least these "Winners" got what they deserved, a brief appearance in the film which would lead to their inevitable film-death, gruesome as it may be.

And I only saw 4 of them, including this one, which was streaming on Netflix (but the preceding ones were not) and I figured, even missing the previous 3 films, I wouldn't necessarily be lost in the "Story" because there hasn't been much of one. But, being the last in the series, things do get wrapped up and holes get filled, but unnecessarily. Cary Elwes returns. Much of it is told in flashbacks. And there are 11 new "traps" (which I believe were only ever in any of the films in order to simply gross-out the audience, and consecutively try to out-gross the other films). I mean, the rule of any and all sequels is to up the ante and the death count, in a grander fashion. It seems insulting every time I watch a horror franchise. They certainly didn't pull any punches with this film. They even called in Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park) to play a skinhead who is part of the death toll. And poor Sean Patrick Flannery (once the star of Boondock Saints) now demoted to a terrible role in a terrible franchise.

You can watch the original "Saw" but don't go any further. I won't even back track to catch myself up. I feel like I've seen them all.
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"The Six Wives of Henry Lefay"
Tim Allen. Poor Tim Allen. Never eclipsed past "Home Improvement" fame to really break into the movies, well aside from "The Santa Clause" (that's actually pretty decent).
Here, Allen is a lothario, a cassanova, who loves getting married, as the title presumes.
Elisha Cuthbert plays his daughter, who is fed up with his teenage-like antics of love-marriage-and-divorce.
Until he is presumed dead, by accident while on vacation. She is planning his funeral, and getting all his affairs (literally) in order. We meet all his ex-wives and the movie plays out like an even more terrible "First Wives Club" (if that is possible).
It's not really worth a complete synopsis. Elisha Cuthbert does well as the strong, independent and fed-up daughter, but I usually like her in anything. Jenna Elfman is one of the ex-wives and she sort of "Steals" the movie as the supposed, and self-proclaimed "love of his life." It has very few funny moments, nothing worth recounting.

And there. Films 67, 68, and 69.
I'm ahead of schedule. And I want to find some better films. But, I'm enjoying this journey.