Film Review: American Reunion(2012)

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&Can’t believe it’s 13 years since “the guy who fucked the pie” Jason Biggs made us all look at homemade pies a different way and probably give some people nightmares. American Pie re-established the teen sex comedies film genre, the ‘porkies’ of the 21st century and probably if there was no pie, we probably wouldn’t have had  The Hangover or Bridesmaids with the closest we would get to both is a wet dirty weekend in Blackpool. In a era of all things nostalgia going back to the roots to find our latest cinematic thrills the question is “Are we ready for another slice of the pie? That’s American Pie?” The answer is yes! Step forward American Reunion.

After 3 films “trying to do the deed” we meet Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alysson Hannigan) still together 9 years after the wedding but now both are parents, the marriage  stale, the days of Jim been Michelle’s ‘bitch’ seem to have gone. The pair need a solution and need it fast , they find that solution in the shape of the high school reunion , will it rekindle the old magic? So what about the rest of the gang?

Oz(Chris Klein) has become a minor sports celeb presenter with high maintenance girlfriend Mia (Katrina Bowden) but deep down he  still has eyes for Heather (Mena Suvari). Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) looks all grown up now, even grown a beard got himself married to a woman who forces him to watch Desperate Housewives but his feelings are still strong for Vicky (Tara Reid). Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) aka Shipwreck looks to be still that suave debonair personality who sounds to have travelled quite a bit, the foursome decide to meet up before the big night for a few drinks to reminisce in the good old days minus the Stifmeister aka Stifler (Seann William Scott) but fate has it in for them as out of the blue unannounced he appears. The five share what has went on since they where last together and out of all of them  Stifler is the only one who has never left town but from this point the alcohol consumption increases marking the return of the childish, mayhem antic signalling its still the same old Stifler we all love is still here and a weekend ahead they’ll never forget!

So is there enough meat or filling left in the pie to warrant another film? the answer is yes but only just. Much of the humour we expect from this franchise is there but it also has enough nostalgia in charm  in it as if the film was that long lost school friend your so  determined to meet again after 9 years. If your like me trying to be critical about this film was hard as im roughly the same age group (just a a few years older) as the cast, so what they went through I can actually relate to in some ways. Some might think it’s silly but your mind is always younger than your age so some adults find it hard to grow up and would rather embrace there farcical youth side like the characters in this film. Talking of Peter Pan that one character who hasn’t changed for love or money is Steve Stifler (William Scott) and  he reminds us all why we all loved this franchise in the first place. Like Jim’s trousers down moments a American Pie flick wouldn’t be the same without the traditional gross moment and the Stifmeister delivers with his revengeful “shit in the ice cooler box”, crude but typical A-Pie moment. If you were watching this in the same cinema as me you would have a gotten a special edition which came with extra sound fx courtesy of a member of the audience who decided to hare his flatulence with the rest of us, it was childish but the timing of the ‘fart’ was sublime perfection, but the fallout was excruciating.

Harold & Kumar director duo Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg you would assume would be perfect for this film as they came from another franchise with similar childish crude humour which they did provide however they did let themselves down on several occasions. This was essentially the Jim and Stifler show which really limited the rest of the cast to more cameo roles especially the girls of the cast, you could also say American Reunion was merely for the boys with the amounts of eye candy on offer. What was also annoying was the several golden nuggets of opportunities they missed and should have expanded on like the young pretenders whom Stifler annoyed with his ice box prank or the Stifler’s Mum/ Jim’s Dad scene scene as they both provided some fantastic support.  What we did like was the role reversal part of Jim helping his dad after all the years Dad was simply being Dad, it was touching scene but also funny one at the same time.

In film one he was ‘the guy who fucked the pie’, film 2 it was the glue on the privates, with film 3 shaving the pubic hair from your privates American Reunion we find Jim half naked lying in the kitchen only to be be awoken by his wife revealing his crown jewels attempting to hide his modesty with a see through pot lid, Jim when are you going to learn! American Reunion is a charming nostalgic film, times its crude, farcical which fans of the franchise will love. The film is funny but could have been funnier if the script was stronger,to match strong comic performances and the directors actually expanded on those golden nuggets.

★★★


Comedy | USA, 2021 | 15 | 2nd May 2012 | Dir.Jon Hurwitz | Hayden Schlossberg, Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Seann William Scott