American Reunion Review

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.