****REPOSTED FROM THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH NEW EDITS AND COMMENTS****
The latest straight-to-DVD release in the American Pie franchise has some of the charms of the original films, but still falls below the bar.
It's funny. Frequently. And not the soft chuckle and wry smile funny that so many directors are trying to pass off as comedies these days. There is some wonderful silliness and antics depicted here that I haven't seen so well done since Animal House. The Greek Games scenes are hysterical, and required me to stop eating when I watched to avoid choking myself to death.
But, this film, like the two other straight-to-vid titles to proceed it, has some problems. It's really hard to care about coming of age battles of Erik Stifler (cousin of the now-infamous Steve Stifler) or his buddies Ryan and Cooze. They're not really as likable as Jim, Oz, and Kevin from the original films. They're the stars, but all eyes are generally on the antics of Dwight Stifler, the president of the Beta House.
Like the rest of the franchise, this film has the sexual innuendo (if it's not brought out in front you) and raunch you'd be expected. Unlike the previous films, most of the nudity shown is not something most of us would want to see.
While the antics were moderately amusing (and disgusting all at the same time), it was Eugene Levy's performance as Jim's Dad that really did this for me. Truth be told, that's how I've felt about almost all of these video American Pie movies.
