R, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Jon
Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg. Release
Date: Apr 6, 2012.
In 1999, one of my fraternity brothers took me to
see the original American Pie as part
of a larger outing that marked the end of my last year of college, and my first
year as a “real” adult. Every time I
watch anything with the words “American Pie” stamped on it, I always think of
that night spent at the movies, where I, pretty much completely in the bag,
laughed all kinds of body parts off. I’ve
never thought they were so hysterical when sober, but the reminiscence of that
night always brings a smile to my face.
Even with that “legend” to live up to, I never go in
to any part of the American Pie saga
with any expectations, although each has moments of comedy gold (never the kind
of thing you WANT to be laughing at, but I laugh when the guy gets shot in the
back seat of the car in Pulp Fiction,
too, so sue me), none are really good movies in the technical sense. They are however, an enjoyable two hours,
almost always. Do I have my
favorites? I do, and American Reunion is likely to be in the
top three.
This is actually the first time where I’ve been able
to empathize completely with the cast of these four movies (I’m going to leave
out the straight-to-vid madness, which I treat like guilty pleasures). Until now, the four years separating me from
Jim, Finch, Oz, Kevin, and Stifler have been big ones, and most of my affection
comes in the form of nostalgia. Now, I
feel for them. They’re at that age when
everyone is getting married, or engaged, or having kids, or all three. They’re starting to drift apart because of
their lives, not because their friendship is any less real. And, they’re still young enough to want the
glory days back, the days when there were no responsibilities, no stress, no
problems that couldn’t be solved in 90 minutes.
God I miss those days. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not old, but I sure feel old every once in a while.
Despite that, my favorite part BY FAR was the
soundtrack, which was a mix of rehashed entries from previous Pie soundtracks and 90s classics. Someone, namely me, will be doing some iTunes
shopping this weekend to see if the soundtrack is available. For about two hours, the boundless joys and
irresponsible irreverence of the 90s was brought back to life for me, in song
and in deed, and that feeling is heady and priceless to me.
Do I wish that the guys could grow up a little? I do.
Poop jokes only take you so far, and Sean William Scott is way past that
point. Could I have done without seeing
Jason Biggs’ weiner? Hell, yes. Was it also kind of cool to see a group of
(mostly) washed up actors again that I kind of came of age with? Hell, yes.
I thought this was a fun movie, but not a good one. I’d see it again, but I won’t be holding my
breath come the Oscars next February.
Oh, if you’re interested, there’s some dialogue
about having regular “reunions” in the future.
See you there.
