Starring: Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Mena Suvari, Tara Reid & Eugene Levy
Rating: ★★★
It’s scary to think that the first American Pie movie came out thirteen years ago, which makes me feel incredibly old, especially since I saw it at the cinema when I was at school! It’s even scarier to know that American Pie: Reunion is the third of two direct sequels and, combined with the four spin off movies, is the eighth American Pie film overall. Talk about flogging a dead horse Hollywood!
But, surprisingly, because the entire cast of the original movie have been reunited, American Pie: Reunion breathes some fresh (if not predictable) life into the bedraggled franchise, and of course, with any movie like this, what you expect is what you will definitely get: gross out humour, drugs, sex, breasts, drunken high school girls, and shockingly enough, a penis.
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| Reunited and it feels so good... |
As the name suggests, the characters from the original film all regroup for their high school reunion. Jim (Biggs), the boy who had sex with the titular American Piein the first movie, and Michelle (Hannigan), the girl with a flute from band camp, are now married and have a toddler, but their relationship is beginning to suffer due to a lack of intimacy. They both decide that attending the reunion will help their sexual endeavours, and pretty soon Jim is reunited with sex crazed Stifler (Scott), sports anchor Oz (Klein), stay at home husband Kevin (Nicholas) and the ever elusive Finch (Thomas). They are all determined to have the best weekend of their lives: one that involves pranks, parties and pandemonium.
The opening scene which reintroduces us to the eternally nerdy Jim is really funny and painfully visceral. There are some other hilarious moments in the film, most of them involving sex or nudity, which should be expected from this style of gross out movie. Stifler is great at doing what he does best: being obnoxiously vulgar and crass, and poor Jim continues to be the butt of most of the jokes (literally).
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| Even Stifler's mum makes an appearance... but this time with Jim's dad! |
The general plot is fine, and manages to cram every single supporting character back into the franchise, which at some points is clunky and awkward, especially the awful and unnecessary sub plot between Kevin and Vicky (Reid). The romance between Oz and Heather (Suvari) could have been expanded and developed into something more believable, but then it would have had to omit his sexy nymphomaniac girlfriend, someone who I’m sure a lot of people in the audience appreciated. Most of the jokes work and between the sex, drugs and criminal activity, there are some emotional scenes, mainly between Jim and his father (Levy) and Jim and his wife. Everybody learns important life lessons about love, loss and sex, especially Stilfer, so the writers did try their best at chucking some heartfelt moments in amongst the nudity.
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| Will Jim and Michelle be able to work things out? |
So it isn’t the greatest comedy ever made, but if you enjoyed the original American Pieand its sequels, and you want a trip down the memory lane piled high with crude comedy that you once enjoyed as a sick teenager, then American Pie: Reunion is for you. Cheap jokes and buck naked honeys are what is on offer here, nothing more, so if you want a laugh, then it does its job.
It’s odd how it brings back a sense of nostalgia by making you remember what you were like at school, a memory game I’m sure that most people don’t ever want to play. And what’s even worse is realising that the cast must not have had very good careers over the last decade to be in this sequel. But I guess in these tough economical times, a pay cheque and a starring role is better than no money and no job. Will this movie help them to re-establish themselves in Hollywood? Who knows! If it does: good for them, if it doesn’t: roll on the next American Pie sequel!
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