Rated
R (Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Nudity, Language, Brief Drug Use and Teen
Drinking)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 53 Minutes
Cast-
Jason
Biggs-James ‘Jim’ Levenstein
Alyson
Hannigan-Michelle Flaherty-Levenstein
Chris
Klein-Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher
Thomas
Ian Nicholas-Kevin Myers
Eddie
Kaye Thomas-Paul Finch
Seann
William Scott-Steve Stifler
Mena
Suvari-Heather
Ali
Cobrin-Kara
Dania
Ramirez-Selena
Tara
Reid-Victoria 'Vicky' Lathum
Katrina
Bowden-Mia
Jay
Harrington-Dr. Ron
Shannon
Elizabeth-Nadia
Natasha
Lyonne-Jessica
Chris
Owen-Chuck Sherman
Eugene
Levy-Noah Levenstein
Jennifer
Coolidge-Jeannine Stifler
Vik
Sahay-Prateek Duraiswamy
John
Cho-John
Directed
by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
 |
| Hey, its not like their careers were going anywhere. |
Former
Major League Baseball relief pitcher Larry Andersen once remarked that ‘you're
only young once, but you can be immature forever,’ which is an apt way of
describing the “American Pie” franchise. The first “American Pie” film was
something of a revelation for moviegoers when it was released during the summer
of 1999 as not only did it push the limits of the R-rating (it was initially
rated NC-17 four times) but it also
revitalized the raunchy teen sex comedy for the new millennium. While critical
reception was only mildly positive (60% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences
enthusiastically embraced the film with some even going so far as to call it an
instant classic (that is going too
far). “American Pie” earned twenty
times its production budget with $235 million at the worldwide box office and
led to the release of two inferior sequels—“American Pie 2” in 2001 and
“American Wedding” in 2003. However, Universal was unable to let go of such a
lucrative franchise and released four additional direct-to-video spin-offs
between 2005 and 2009. Word of a fourth “American Pie” began to trickle out in October
2008 with the film entering pre-production in April 2010 when Jon Hurwitz and
Hayden Schlossberg (the creators of the “Harold & Kumar” series) signed on
to both write and direct with the intention of reuniting the entire principal
cast. “American Reunion” finally arrives into theaters nine years since the release of the previous film and is actually the best installment of the franchise,
although that is faint praise considering that the series never rose above
mediocrity. Recycled comedy and plot aside, what makes this entry passably
entertaining is that the characters are finally treated like actual people and the
film manages to at least partially recapture the spark that made the series so
popular in the first place.
Thirteen years after graduating high school,
married couple James ‘Jim’ Levenstein (Jason Biggs) and Michelle Flaherty (Alyson
Hannigan) now have a two-year old son named Evan. Unfortunately, the two have
not been intimate since his birth and are slowly drifting apart. Chris 'Oz'
Ostreicher (Chris Klein) is now an NFL sportscaster living in Los Angeles with
his pretty but vain girlfriend Mia (Katrina Bowden). Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian
Nicholas) is happily married and works from home as an architect while Paul
Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) has apparently disappeared with his whereabouts
unknown. Finally, former party animal Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) now
works as a temp at a famous investment firm but is often put down by his boss Prateek
Duraiswamy (Vik Sahay). Kevin invites Jim and Oz (but not Stifler) to East
Great Falls to attend their thirteenth high school reunion in order to catch
up. Finch arrives as well and reveals that he had been spending the past ten
years traveling all over the world. At the bar, they meet a former classmate
named Selena (Dania Ramirez), an ugly duckling who has now grown into a
beautiful woman. Despite being uninvited, the group reluctantly allows Stifler
to join them for drinks when he shows up. The gang spends their time
reminiscing about their crazy antics in high school and tries to move on while
Jim finds himself tempted by his former neighbor Kara (Ali Cobrin), whom he
used to babysit and now wants to lose her virginity to him on her eighteenth
birthday.
Like its predecessors, “American Reunion” features a scatterbrained
plot and largely coasts by on fan nostalgia alone. Despite being a mediocre
effort, the original film still succeeded in making you sympathize with the
characters as they struggled to make the pivotal transition from teenager to
adulthood but the sequels unfortunately remained trapped in the past as it
desperately tried to make lightning strike twice. The series is clearly long
past its prime but this fourth installment does
manage to partially recapture the spirit of the first film, only this time the
characters are looking to finally leave their old selves behind. It does not
entirely succeed and much of the blame can be pointed to Hurwitz and Schlossberg
recycling much of the comedy from the previous films but with some subtle
variations (as if we wouldn’t notice). The cold open features Jim in a
compromising position once again only this time his son Evan walks in on him
instead of his father. Continuing his obsession with feces-related pranks,
Stifler lets one rip in a beer cooler as payback toward a group of obnoxious high
school kids who sprayed him and his friends with their jet skies. The main
set-piece is when Jim is driving a drunken Kara home and enlists his friends to
distract her parents while he sneaks her back in the house. The only problem is
that Kara ripped half her clothes off in an attempt to seduce Jim and lose her
virginity. I admit that this was actually pretty funny and adding to its
outrageousness is when Kara’s mother recognizes Oz from a “Dancing with the
Stars”-knock off and begins to suggestively dance around him to the shock of
her husband.
However, the best scenes in the film are the dramatic ones and the
relationship between Jim and his father has always been one of the few bright
spots in the franchise, their banter always touching and hilarious at the same
time. Jim’s father once again offers some sagely wisdom to his son on how to keep
a marriage from getting stale (ironic given how little has changed in each
film) and there’s a sincere honesty behind his words that I appreciated. The
series could’ve greatly benefitted from more of these moments instead of being
a series of juvenile comedy vignettes. A common complaint that I had of the
previous films was that its subplots would often leave the main story feeling
like an afterthought and I am glad to report that this issue has been finally resolved but this leaves some of
its ancillary characters such as Kevin Myers and Paul Finch with little to do
other than providing a familiar face. Fans of the series will enjoy “American
Reunion” as this film literally does reunite every character, with the minor
ones even making a welcome cameo but even though it’s mildly funnier and has
more heart compared to the previous entries, it’s still a case of too little
too late as the writers fail to really bring anything new. It may be the best
installment but compared to the R-rated comedies of today, it pales in
comparison.
The cast slip easily back in their roles like a pair of old gloves
with Jason Biggs still charming as the lovable dork who always gets caught with
his pants down (literally!) but manages to find a way to bounce back from total
disaster every time. Chris Klein’s acting hasn’t fared much better in the intervening
thirteen years while Thomas Ian Nicholas and Eddie Kaye Thomas are fine despite
the lacking subplots they are forced to work with. Seann William Scott’s Steve
Stifler proved to be the series’ breakout character given that the actor has
had the most successful career but Stifler always came across as little more
than an annoying cartoon written by a horny fifteen-year-old boy. Thankfully,
the directors saw fit to dial down his presence to a more manageable level. Alyson
Hannigan and Mena Suvari’s characters are given a bit more depth but Dania
Ramirez’s Selena proves to be largely superfluous to the proceedings. As for
Tara Reid, let her be a reminder to all women on the dangers of plastic
surgery. Eugene Levy continues to excel as Jim’s father and the film is at its
best whenever he is on-screen. He also shares a hilarious mid-end credits scene
with Jennifer Coolidge. Katrina Bowden provides the requisite eye-candy while Ali
Cobrin…let’s just say she definitely
takes her vitamins. Shannon Elizabeth, Natasha Lyonne, and Chris Owen appear in
cameo roles.
Released on April 6, 2012, “American Reunion” has received
negative reviews with 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics noted that ‘it’ll provide
sweetly nostalgic comfort food for fans of the franchise, but [the film] fails
to do anything truly new or interesting—or even very funny—with the characters.’
It had a somewhat underwhelming debut during its opening weekend with $21.5
million due to the large amount of time that has passed and the bad taste left
by the direct-to-video spin-offs. “The Hunger Games” dominating the box office certainly
didn’t help matters. Like I said before, only fans will get any enjoyment out
of this film. Still, Universal has little to worry about given its $50
production budget as the film has already earned $80 million worldwide. It’s a
far cry from the trilogy but not a total disaster. While my opinion of the previous
“American Pie” films are unchanged, “American Reunion” remains a breezy enough
romp that ultimately has little going for it besides the nostalgia factor.
Final
Rating: 3 out of 5
Kevin
Myers: Were we just as obnoxious as these kids back in the day?
Paul
Finch: Not us, our generation, we were more mature.
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