Friday, April 6, 2012

American Reunion - 3 stars

This is the 4th American Pie movie (not counting the direct to DVD sequels with none of the origianl cast except Eugene Levy). It's the 13th reunion for the class of 1999. Not sure why it has to be the 13th reunion, except that they want the movie to take place in 2012. There is some line about missing the 10 year reunion, so this is making up for it.

Anyway, let's see what all the characters are up to.

Jim and Michelle are still married. They have a young son, and their marriage is having trouble. Jim's mom died a few years earlier, and his dad is still in mourning.

Finch has been off globe trotting on various adventures.

Kevin is married (not to Vicky) and seems happy being a house husband.

Oz has a girlfriend (not Heather) and works as a sportscaster on an ESPN show (or something similar). He also recently competed on Dancing With the Stars-type show.

Stiffler is working as a temp at an investment firm. He is the same old Stiffler, and no mention is made of Cadence, the girl he ended up with at the end of American Wedding.

I like seeing these characters again. After 4 movies, I'm very familiar with all of them and it's just nice to see their further adventures, which basically involve the 4 friends hanging out and Stiffler screwing everything up. Not that they each can't get into trouble on their own.

There are some very funny bits in the movie. After a night of drinking, Jim wakes up half naked in the kitchen. When Michelle and another girl walk in, he tries to cover himself with a see-through pan lid. When the hot 18-year old next door gets drunk and passes out in his car, Jim tries to sneak her into her bed while his friends distract her parents. When a group of teenagers soak our characters with jetskis, Stiffler gets them back in a way that's way over the top.

Just about everything Stiffler does in this movie is funny. Seann William Scott has been funny in other movies besides the American Pie series, but this is his best character. And since the character means well, there is a sweetness about him. He is vulgar and vile, but he really just wants the other guys to like him. Almost nothing he does is out of any malice, he just doesn't know any better.

I will admit that there are too many characters. One reason I liked American Wedding so much was that Oz and Michelle were not in it. They were the two least interesting characters in the first 2 movies. Also, Kevin is a rather disposable character, and they really didn't need to bring Tara Reid back. Towards the end we see a bunch of other minor characters make brief appearances, like Nadia and the Sherminator. I guess it's nice to see them again, but the movie wouldn't have suffered without them.

There are more things I could pick apart in this movie, like how dumb some characters have to be to not notice what's going on around them, or some of the obvious setups for jokes. At times it felt like the screenwriters had a checklist of lines and actions that they had to get in the movie (make sure Stiffler's mom and Finch gets brought up, put Jim and Michelle in a band room with flutes, get in a "One time at band camp" reference) but I can forgive those when the movie is as funny as this one is.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind if they made another one in a few years. I'm not sure what the next one would be about. Maybe drop the new titles and just call it American Pie 5.

1 comment:

princessblonde81 said...

Doesn't Sifflers mom make an apperance and her and Finch have a fling again like they always do in the American pie movies. I wanted to maybe see this movie but I just wait until comes out on T.V.