By Geno McGahee
In 1999, AMERICAN PIE came out and was a surprise hit. It was a raunchy comedy when the world had become accustomed to the safe PG-13 brand of humor. People related to the awkwardness of the teenage years and the film exploited that in a way that was amusing and hit home for many people. It was a very good and classic comedy.
It was so classic that it spawned a sequel in 2001 and another follow up in 2003. Straight to video spinoffs were aplenty and that seemed to be the way that it was going to play out for the rest of its life, but never say never in Hollywood, and they reunited the original actors to make one final film called AMERICAN REUNION.
Jim (Jason Biggs), Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Vicky (Tara Reid), Stifler (Sean William Scott), Heather (Mena Suvari), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Jim’s dad (Eugene Levy) all return for this high school reunion and immediately it brought back memories. It’s been 13 years since the first came out and times were different. The 1990s were not a great time for film, but they were a unique time and the original AMERICAN PIE captured it. Seeing this fourth entry, they were able to bring back the feelings of the first just by putting the cast together again and playing the same music that we heard back then.
The story surrounds the relationship between Jim and Michelle, mostly, but we see old sparks fly with the former couples in Oz and Heather and Kevin and Vicky. This film was all about rewinding the clock and trying to capture the original magic…unfortunately, it just wasn’t there.
There was a different writer for this one and it shows. The script just isn’t strong and it relies too much on the zaniness of Stifler and Jim’s dad, which are always safe bets, but they cannot keep this movie afloat. Even though there was plenty of craziness in the first three, there was a level of realism which is gone in this one. For instance, Oz became a famous dancer because of his time on a reality TV show. It’s supposed to be really funny but it didn’t do anything for me.
Also, as good as Sean William Scott is, much of his “Stifler” delivery was forced. At times, he captured the magic, but at other times, you just realize that he’s not 18 years old anymore. Many of the situations that he was in it seemed that the actor, himself, was not comfortable. Sean William Scott is a very talented comedic actor, but he fell flat here for the most part…due in large part to the terrible script courtesy of HAROLD & KUMAR writer, Jon Hurwitz, who also directed this.
You see a lot of the mediocre attempts at humor that were prevalent in the HAROLD & KUMAR movies here. Despite having all of the characters and all of the elements to make a good conclusion to this, Hurwitz is lost and cannot put it together. There were some funny moments, but when compared to the first three, all quality comedies, this one just isn’t there. It’s no wonder why this was rushed quickly into the cinemas and just as quickly out and onto Blu Ray and DVD. They knew it wasn’t a great movie.
AMERICAN REUNION was not a bad movie but it didn’t maintain the standard set by the first three. Had it not been for the actors, this could have easily been a straight to video movie like the spinoffs. It was great to see the people again, but it just felt empty.
I recommend this, especially for those of you that have followed the series. It does make you remember where you were and who you were when you watched the original AMERICAN PIE and that alone is worth the price of admission. I was brought back to 1999 for 90 minutes and even though I didn’t laugh as much as I wanted to, I did watch it from beginning to end and reminisce.
Rating: 6/10
