Unrated
(Strong Sexual Content, Crude Humor, Language and Drinking)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 51 Minutes
Cast-
Jason
Biggs-James ‘Jim’ Levenstein
Chris
Klein-Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher
Thomas
Ian Nicholas-Kevin Myers
Eddie
Kaye Thomas-Paul Finch
Seann
William Scott-Steve Stifler
Alyson
Hannigan-Michelle Flaherty
Tara
Reid-Victoria 'Vicky' Lathum
Mena
Suvari-Heather
Shannon
Elizabeth-Nadia
Natasha
Lyonne-Jessica
Chris
Owen-Chuck Sherman
Eugene
Levy-Jim's Father/Mr. Levenstein
Casey
Affleck-Tom Myers
Jennifer
Coolidge-Stifler's Mother
Directed
by J.B. Rogers
 |
| I'm sure they can reattach it, son. |
Here’s
a funny anecdote: I stupidly believed that ATM’s would automatically start
spitting out money when the clock struck 12:00 AM on December 31, 1999 due to
the Y2K computer bug. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of
view), there was no major technological catastrophe and any problems that
occurred on January 1, 2000 proved to be minor. Many have complained that the
problem was grossly exaggerated and that ultimately, there was nothing to worry
about but even so, I always say that it’s better to err on the side caution.
Y2K was big news back in 1999 but so were movies thanks to a number of
high-profile releases and breakout hits, one of which was Paul Weitz’s “American
Pie.” R-rated sex comedies featuring copious amounts of nudity are nothing new
in Hollywood but Weitz’s film led to a revival and the creation of a new
successful franchise. “American Pie” lit up the summer of 1999 to the tune of
$235 million worldwide (twenty times its production budget) and prompted
Universal to green-light a sequel for release in 2001. The original “American
Pie” was no classic by any definition and was honestly a thoroughly mediocre
affair despite the fond memories that people have of the film. Not
surprisingly, the lazily named “American Pie 2” is an uninspired sequel that is
simply content with recycling everything from the original, including its
problems. The comedy is even more ridiculous this time around but a majority of
them aren’t even funny and the story once again goes nowhere due to having so
many unnecessary characters that have little to do other than eat into the
running time. How this series enjoyed such a positive reception continues to
puzzle me.
After finishing their first years at college, best friends James
‘Jim’ Levenstein (Jason Biggs), Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher (Chris Klein), Kevin
Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), and Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) reunite at East
Great Falls, Michigan to spend the summer together. Unable to let go of his
lingering feelings for his high school girlfriend, Victoria 'Vicky' Lathum (Tara
Reid), Kevin confides in his older brother Tom (Casey Affleck), who advises him
to rent the lake house at Grand Harbor and throw a memorable party at the end
of their vacation. Kevin invites all his friends to come but is forced to have
the obnoxious Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) tag along in order to cover
the rent for the house. The five manage to find temporary work as decorators
and painters while dealing with their own personal predicaments. Oz tries to
keep his relationship with Heather (Mena Suvari) alive while she is studying
abroad in Spain by engaging in phone sex but finds himself continuously
interrupted. Paul begins practicing the sexual art of Tantra in the hopes of
sleeping with Stifler’s mother (Jennifer Coolidge) again while Steve becomes
obsessed with a pair of female neighbors whom he suspects to be lesbians. Jim
learns that Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) will be visiting by the end of the summer
and seeks sexual advice from band camp geek Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan).
However, the two begin to develop feelings for each other as they spend more
time together.
“American Pie” featured a rather thin premise but the sequel’s
nonexistent story plainly illustrates that this film was made solely to cash-in
on the audience’s good-will for the original. Instead of losing their
virginity, the main plot concerns Jim’s growing feelings for Michelle but this
is given so little attention to the point of being an afterthought due to the
inconsequential subplots that take up a huge chunk of the film’s running time.
Many of the supporting characters have little to do other than to provide a
familiar face in the mix and the constant allusions to the first film rob this
one of any sense of real identity. Writer Adam Herz’s lack of inspiration shows
when he not only recycles story elements of the original but even the comedy as
well. Sophomore director J.B. Rogers embraces a ‘bigger is better’ mentality in
an attempt to do outdo the original but all of it comes off as desperation. The
only time where I genuinely laughed
is when Jim finds himself mistaken for a special-needs trombone player at
Michelle’s band camp and is forced to perform for a massive audience while wearing clothes that are two sizes too small. All the gags are simply repeats
with some variations such as Stifler getting a ‘golden shower’ instead of
drinking beer mixed with semen or two nude women loudly making out with each
other while everyone in the neighborhood accidentally listens in through the
radio or walkie-talkie. The latter is also a blatant and cheap excuse to
titillate the audience rather than coming up with something new or even
actually funny. Jim even superglues his hand to his genitals while masturbating
but this makes the film feel like an exercise in humiliation. One of the few
strengths of the original was that the characters were sympathetic and likable
even if their motivations were selfish but because there is no real development
and thus no motivation, it’s hard to emotionally invest in what they’re going
through considering that their problems are ultimately trivial. “American Pie
2” is proof that sequels made in response of the first film’s financial success
are pointless and often creatively bankrupt but Hollywood continues to be
thick-skulled and remain willingly blind.
The acting remains a mixed affair
with Thomas Ian Nicholas still his whiny self but nothing tops the god-awful
scene where Chris Klein tries to have phone sex and begins rubbing his nether
regions. I kid you not when I say that it was the stuff that nightmares are
made of. Jason Biggs brings a sincere earnestness as Jim and it’s hard not to
like him given his dorky nice-guy mannerisms. Eddie Kaye Thomas is fine as
lovesick pseudo-sophisticate Paul Finch while Alyson Hannigan brings a smile to
my face with her quirky line delivery. Eugene Levy reprises his role as Jim’s
bumbling yet somehow hip dad and the film is always made better whenever he is
on-screen to give some fatherly advice to his son. Unfortunately, these moments
are all too rare. Seann William Scott continues to be a world-class jerk as
Steve Stifler. His behavior feels like a hormone-addled fifteen-year-old
teenager who has just seen female breasts for the first time in his life. Tara
Reid, Mena Suvari, and Shannon Elizabeth make cursory appearances but
ultimately do little in the film.
“American Pie 2” was released on Blu-Ray back
in March to promote the release of “American Reunion” and the results are
definitely are step up from the previous film. Digital noise reduction is not
as aggressively used and the overall look feels much more vibrant even though
skin tones can lean toward an orange tinge. The opening scene looks terrible
however but thankfully, the video quality does
get better. Things on the audio front are also noticeably improved with the
licensed music having a richer volume but ambience still leaves much to be
desired. Special features include the prerequisite deleted scenes, gag reel,
and four audio commentaries: first up
is director J.B. Rogers with writer Adam Herz on the second, third is Jason
Biggs, Mena Suvari, and Thomas Ian Nicholas, and lastly Eddie Kaye Thomas flies
solo on the fourth.
Released on August 10, 2001, “American Pie 2” received
mixed reviews with 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics noted that the film failed
to ‘retain the freshness of the original, nor is it as funny.’ Part of the
reason for the middling reception was that the sequel suffered from numerous
reshoots with entire subplots excised in order to keep it light and casual. Of
course, it financially outdid the original with an impressive $288 million
worldwide against a still cheap $30 million production budget, leading to a
third film to be released two years later. “American Pie 2” has only one funny
scene and the rest of the film simply limps along for two hours with a thin
story that goes nowhere. Film critic James Berardinelli said it best in his own
review: ‘when a motion picture is the result of a financial impulse, not a
creative one, this is often the unfortunate result’ but Hollywood (or the
audience) never learns.
Final
Rating: 2 out of 5
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