History Film / CantHardlyWait

* BigFishInABiggerOcean: Trip [=McNeely=], a Huntington alumnus and former BigManOnCampus, explains to jock Mike Dexter (who has just dumped his long term girlfriend Amanda in anticipation of scoring with girls in college) that college is not like high school; popular jocks like them are a "dime a dozen" and college girls overlook them, leaving them to falter.

* CollegeIsHighSchoolPart2: Averted. Trip [=McNeely=] tells Mike that college women aren't the easy pickings that high school girls are and that they all have causes and prefer older guys. He's clearly unhappy with his life at this point and warns Mike not to make the same mistakes he did. Mike fails to heed this warning and becomes a JadedWashout as a result.

* GirlPosse: Amanda hangs out with a trio of shallow, pop-culture fixated girls who date {{Dumb Jock}}s. They aren't exactly TrueCompanions, but they at least make an effort (telling Amanda they think she's prettier than Creator/GwynethPaltrow, then admitting that isn't true once she's out of earshot).

* IgnoredEpiphany: Mike learns from Trip that being the BigManOnCampus in high school most certainly does ''not'' carry over into college; discovers that dumping Amanda in the manner that he did has not only burnt his bridges with her, but with every other girl in school; and ends up sitting drinking alone with the guy he bullied for years. While he apologises to William and even covers for him when they both get arrested, Mike's personality is effectively reset to what it was at the beginning of the film. This does come back to bite him, as he ends up losing his football scholarship after drinking too much, then losing his job after some incriminating pictures surface.

** [[Series/DharmaAndGreg Jenna Elfman]] as a stripper dressed as an angel who gives Preston advice.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Amanda encounters several over the course of the film.

* ChekhovsGunman: The girl trying to get everyone to sign her yearbook.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: except for a flashback or two, the entire film takes place in a 24-hour period. Not only that, but except for the introduction and epilogue, each about five minutes long, the rest of the movie all takes place at the party.
* TheFaceless: Amanda's face is obscured during the entirety of the flashback, either by camera angles, her own hair, or someone passing an object in front of her, so her face is never fully revealed until she walks into the party in the present day.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Every time Chris Owen's character appears on screen, he is stealing something, starting off relatively sanely with bags of chips at the shop and culminating with a ''police car''. He is even credited as "Klepto Kid."

* FutureLoser: Deconstructed with Mike.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: The angel stripper Preston encounters while trying to use a payphone.
* HumiliationConga: Mike goes through one.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Mike learns from Trip that being the BigManOnCampus in high school most certainly does ''not'' carry over into college, discovers that dumping Amanda in the manner that he did has not only burnt his bridges with her, but with every other girl in school, and ends up sitting drinking alone with the guy he bullied for years. While he apologises to William and even covers for him when they both get arrested, Mike's personality is effectively reset to what it was at the beginning of the film. This does come back to bite him, as he ends up losing his football scholarship after drinking too much, then losing his job after some incriminating pictures surface.
* JadedWashout: Trip [=McNeely=]. Mike is also on his way to becoming this.
* JerkJock: Mike, on his way to becoming a JadedWashout.
* LockedInARoom: Kenny and Denise get stuck in the bathroom together after discovering the door jams when closed.
* LockedInTheBathroom: In a cross between this and LockedInARoom, Kenny (Creator/SethGreen) and Denise (Lauren Ambrose) lock themselves in the upstairs bathroom...and can't get out because the door's broken.

* NerdsAreSexy: Well, nerds who can sing "Paradise City" are at least

* NervousWreck: The Girl Whose Party It Is doesn't really get to enjoy the party, because she's too busy trying to keep the house from being totally trashed. This is understandable, since way too many people show up, the big family portrait gets vandalised, the curtains get set on fire, and.......[[NoodleIncident something]] gets left in the fridge. By the time she she discovers Denise and Kenny in the upstairs bathroom, she's dishevelled and incredibly angry.
* TheNineties
* NoNameGiven: Other than the six main characters, very few are given actual names, instead being credited by the role they played in the story ("Girl Whose Party It Is", "[[FunnyForeigner Exchange Student]]", "Ready To Have Sex Girl").
* NoodleIncident: Or rather, specifically, the Pudding Incident. William describing one of Mike's torments of him. Apparently nobody else has forgotten it.
** Less Noodley than it otherwise might be: while describing it, William holds up a pair of pants with a brown stain on the seat that is presumably - hopefully - chocolate pudding.

* NWordPrivileges: [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Kenny's friends]] find out the hard way that they ''don't'' have these.

* PairingTheSpares: The yearbook girl and the black guy who ''was'' Preston's friend due to their mutual fondness for remisicing.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Kenny and his friends. HilarityEnsues when they run into some ''actual'' black people and ask them "what's up [[NWordPrivileges my niggas]]?"
* RaceForYourLove: [[spoiler: Amanda gets to the train station just in time to ask Preston about his letter. Slight subversion in that while they do kiss, Preston eventually catches his train and the development of their relationship is revealed later.]]
* RousingSpeech: Parodied.
--> '''William''': Tonight Mike Dexter will know humiliation, tonight is the night we fight back, tonight is our [[Film/IndependenceDay Independence Night]]!
* RunningGag: Kenny
** TheDitz running around the party trying to get everyone to sign her yearbook.
** The band booked to perform at the party are too busy arguing to perform. And then when they are ready to perform, the cops have arrived to shut the party down.
** The kid who is only ever seen stealing stuff.

* StalkerWithACrush: An AlternativeCharacterInterpretation for Preston.
* StickyFingers: One guy just keeps stealing things in every scene in which he appears, culminating in him stealing a ''police car'' when the cops break up the party. And he apparently gets away with it, since he turns up the next morning to steal a gumball machine.
* TheStinger: William's two friends are walking down the street talking about how boring their lives are and regretting not going to the party, saying that {{nothing exciting ever happens here}}. [[spoiler:[[TemptingFate Then they get abducted by aliens.]]]]
* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: "Mandy" by Barry Manilow, which Preston takes as a sign that he should pursue Amanda. Lampshaded by Denise, who's weirded out that Preston's radio is tuned to a station that plays Barry Manilow songs.
** It's later explained that it's in honor of Barry Manilow's birthday, and that that radio station plays "Mandy" every hour on the hour.

* TheirFirstTime: [[spoiler: Kenny and Denise, on a bathroom floor. It's Kenny's first time, but Denise's second.]]

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The film has multiple concurrent plots with the main ones being Preston's romantic pursuit of Amanda and her own dealing with her dumping by Mike, Denise and Kenny being locked in the upstairs bathroom, Mike attempting to get the other jocks to dump their own girlfriends and his realising the mistake he made in dumping Amanda, and William loosening up with drink in him. This is in addition to the minor plots, such as the band or the hostess attempting to keep the house in some sort of order. Some of these plots have some overlap, but even some of the main characters have absolutely no interaction with each other; For example, Preston never speaks to Mike or William, despite Mike at least having some impetus on his story.

* UnusualEuphemism: William's "Laser Pointer".
* WeWantOurJerkBack: After Mike [[spoiler: stands up for William after they're arrested and]] sees the error of his ways, growing as a person, he reverts to his former self.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

** Mike [[spoiler:went to college on a football scholarship... which he lost after his drinking got in the way of his performance. He then turned into a JadedWashout, overweight and getting fired from his job at the car wash after some photos from the party surfaced]].
** Denise and Kenny [[spoiler:broke up no less than five minutes after their last scene together, and got back together ten minutes later after finding a bathroom]].

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: We don't have a firm location for the movie; the best we can nail it down to is somewhere in the Northeast, given the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Communications#Bell_Atlantic_(1983%E2%80%932000) Bell Atlantic]] badging on the pay-phones Preston uses.[[note]]The train station at the end, however, is obviously Los Angeles Union Station[[/note]]
* WildTeenParty: Where most of the action takes place.

[[DoggedNiceGuy Preston]] has been in love with [[ClassPrincess Amanda]] since the first day of high school. When Amanda is dumped by her football player boyfriend [[JerkJock Mike]] shortly before graduation, Preston decides to attend [[WildTeenParty a big graduation party everyone's going to]] and declare his feelings for Amanda. Despite her reservations about Preston's plan, his best friend [[TheSnarkKnight Denise]] comes to the party with him. Also in attendance at the party are Mike, and [[{{Nerd}} William]], who has been bullied by Mike all through high school and is at the party to take final revenge on him. Denise's childhood friend [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Kenny]] is also there, hoping to lose his virginity before he goes to college.

* HollywoodNerd: William and his two friends are of the Type 1 variety.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: We don't have a firm location for the movie; the best we can nail it down to is somewhere in the Northeast, given the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_Communications#Bell_Atlantic_(1983%E2%80%932000) Bell Atlantic]] badging on the pay-phones Preston uses.

* PairingTheSpares: The yearbook girl and the black guy who ''was'' Preston's friend.

* GirlPosse: Amanda hangs out with a trio of shallow, pop-culture fixated girls who date {{Dumb Jock}}s. They aren't great friends, but they at least make an effort (telling Amanda they think she's prettier than Creator/GwynethPaltrow, then admitting that isn't true once she's out of earshot).

[[DoggedNiceGuy Preston]] has been in love with [[LovableAlphaBitch Amanda]] since the first day of high school. When Amanda is dumped by her football player boyfriend [[JerkJock Mike]] shortly before graduation, Preston decides to attend [[WildTeenParty a big graduation party everyone's going to]] and declare his feelings for Amanda. Despite her reservations about Preston's plan, his best friend [[TheSnarkKnight Denise]] comes to the party with him. Also in attendance at the party are Mike, and [[{{Nerd}} William]], who has been bullied by Mike all through high school and is at the party to take final revenge on him. Denise's childhood friend [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Kenny]] is also there, hoping to lose his virginity before he goes to college.

* HelloNurse: Amanda basically has every guy flocking to her once she totally humiliates Mike.

* UnsuspectinglySoused: Happens to William after he decides to have a beer in order to fit in at the party.