Can't Hardly Wait is a 1998 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont.

Amanda discovers a letter addressed to her by Preston and, moved by its contents, makes it her mission to find him, though she does not know what he looks like and no one she asks gives any helpful descriptions.

Meanwhile, Preston's antisocial best friend Denise Fleming and Kenny accidentally lock themselves inside a bathroom away from the party, where they talk about their old friendship and how they had drifted apart.

The epilogue explains what happens to all of the main characters: The script for Can't Hardly Wait was originally written in 1996, by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan who were looking for a project they could develop and direct themselves on a limited budget.

[6] Jennifer Love Hewitt was known for Party of Five when she signed on to the film, and appeared in the slasher hit I Know What You Did Last Summer, which helped to further raise her profile.

[1] The film initially received an R-Rating due to MPAA objections about the depiction of teens drinking alcohol at an unsupervised party and drug use.

The site's consensus reads, "Occasionally clever and moderately intelligent, Can't Hardly Wait also contains too many cheap laughs, recycled plotting, and flat characters.

[9] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[10] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "For all its nonstop energy and high spirits, Can't Hardly Wait allows its characters to emerge as fully dimensional individuals; they've been written with care and perception and played with equal aplomb by a roster of talented young actors".

[11] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Can't Hardly Wait has freshness, comic invention and an engaging romantic spirit.

Club wrote: "But the film deserves credit, both for its breezy pacing and its uncommon tendency to make its characters smarter and geekier than they might have been.

[14] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, and wrote: "The kind of movie that somehow succeeds in moving very, very slowly even while proceeding at a breakneck pace.

[16] On May 25, 2019, on Danny Pellegrino's Everything Iconic podcast, Jennifer Love Hewitt revealed that she is developing Can't Hardly Wait 2 with plans to direct it herself.

[19] Mill Creek Entertainment reissued the DVD and Blu-ray on June 17, 2014, and October 30, 2018, respectively with the latter format billed as the "20 Year Reunion Edition".