American Pie

Four good friends, who all happen to be virgins, make a pact to get laid before prom nite. Prom nite happens to be only three weeks away.

Finally, a high school movie that puts the “T” back in Teen flicks! Yes, there is nudity in this film. Yes, there are masturbation scenes, oral sex scenarios, intercourse montages, but nothing too graphic on the whole. Mostly implied. Overall, the film features a few huge laughs (a la MARY), featuring a doctored cup of beer, the by-now infamous apple pie sequence, the Internet used to its full potential and a cute Mrs. Robinson vibe nodding THE GRADUATE, and a lot of open talk about sex, masturbation, porn, but nothing terribly insightful, shocking or hilarious for my taste. I was personally hoping that this film would take more chances than it did, but ultimately it seemed to go for the easy visual gag or toilet humor (one pulled directed from the Farrelly’s DUMB AND DUMBER (7/10)). Sure, I did laugh at most of them, but the script seemed to play more like a few funny sketches plotted against an average high school story, than a string of laughs strategically laced through a unique script.

The couples in the film were also so-so, with one of them not really all that interesting to keep track of, and another tapping into a sugary fairy-tale ending. The few actors that did stand out for me included Jason Biggs, who played the every-guy who we could all relate to (And yes, we’ve all pulled a whack to scrambled TV porn!), Chris Klein reprising his goofy-nice-guy role from ELECTION (7/10) (Two funny performances, but now it’s time to stretch, Chris) and Sean William Scott, as the jerk with all the over-the-top insulting lines. Other than that, the film seemed to run a little long, although they might cut it by release date, since our preview was a “rough cut”, and featured a decent teen soundtrack. Overall, I think that the frank sexual content and dialogue in this film will be refreshing to most teens, despite the script’s lack of other innovative narrative additions: it’s still the nerds vs jocks, prom nite, kids lying about their virginity, etc… A teen version of THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY? Kind of. But certainly not your average high school flick, and certainly eons away from the safe teenage flicks bestowed upon us by the great John Hughes in the 80s.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian