STARS: Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hanigan, Chris Klein, Eddie Kay Thomas, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nichols, Ali Kobrin
DIRECTOR: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
GENRE: Gross-Out Comedy
Must be a testament to the fun and good times the original American Pie cast had in making the film, (and its two sequels) because the WHOLE GANG--Jim, Stifler, Oz, Kevin, Finch, Michelle, Jim's dad and Stifler's mom--are back for another go at it in American Reunion.
Staying true to the formula, there are enough gross-out gags and juvenile hijinks to keep your inner adolescent cackling along throughout.
It's been thirteen years since the original film, and as they plan for a high school reunion back at East Great Falls, Michigan, you'd think these these thirty-somethings might have changed and matured some, but it's really just their circumstances that are different. Jim (Jason Biggs) is married to Michelle, (Alyson Hanigan) and they have a two year old son.
Stifler is a yes-man at a financial firm. Oz is a semi-recognizable sportscaster on TV. Finch is a world traveler who regales the girls with tales of his adventures.
But people still remember the embarrassing YouTube video of Jim's
bedroom misadventures, (from the first film) so it's almost mandatory that he winds up in a similarly compromising situation here. Stifler, (Seann William Scott) the heart and soul of the American Pie franchise with his wild and crazy antics, is obligated to pull another doozy of a caper out of his butt (and he does--in a manner of speaking). And so on.
The subplot involves 18-year old Kara, (Ali Kobrin) the little girl Jim used to babysit
back in the day. She's all grown up in a BIG way, and now she's got a major crush on him. We will see how things have been developing with Kara, in a madcap sequence that begins with her being drunk, and tearing off her clothes, and coming onto the now husband and dad, Jim, (always the hapless fall- guy) in the car as he is innocently trying to take her home.
The various inside jokes in American Reunion will fall flat if you haven't seen the original American Pie. You can still get off on American Reunion if you didn't, but it's like eating apple pie without the whipped cream.(And you wouldn't laugh--or groan--at what I just said unless you HAD seen the original!)
Relationships will be tested, and some will be rekindled, but through it all, we sense that things will right themselves in the end-- because despite all the raunch, this film has a good heart, and that goes a long ways with me--even if it is all the familiar scenarios with an updated twist.
Grade: B
