Friday, 19 April 2013

Movie Review: American Pie Reunion


American Pie: Reunion Review 
(DVD/Bluray)

It has been nearly 10 years since the last slice of pie was brought to us. But is it as delicious as its official predecessors? Or does it simply leave a stale taste like the numerous spin-offs that were churned out? 

 As the title clearly hints, the cast of the original three American Pie movies return to East Great Falls for a school reunion, thirteen years after they graduated from high school. And low and behold chaos ensues their return.
The major difference with this entry is of course that the group have been split for a long time (allowing for some great quick snapshot nostalgic moments) and now living their own lives. 
You would expect that as the characters grew up that their problems would also be more mature. This only seems to be the case for the main protagonists Jim and Michelle, whilst the other characters merely hold very small dilemmas in their adult life and they aren't too overly developed. But I in a sense appreciated that they did not bog down on the hum drum nature of maturity. The whole purpose of the film after all was for the gang to revert to their old antics for a fun filled weekend. And with this, the film achieved it to the best of its abilities.
Although there were no extremely memorable set pieces like the webcam scene in the original American Pie, there was no let down of funny moments that kept in line with the same subtle, crude humour that has existed in the previous entries. Remaining as spoiler free as possible, My favourite moment was an interesting car ride back from the falls. it was plain silly but was another instance of questioning "how the hell these characters get into these situations?"    
There were one or two comedic points which I felt were pointless and were only created to fill space and have some cheap laughs. But thankfully it was on the rare occasion.   
Once again the relationship between Jim and his dad was perfectly created, reminding us that even though Jim is a fully fledged adult, he is still a kid in the eyes of his dad. The sentimental storyline that tied between them added another element in the bonding between father and son and was done brilliantly.     
As for the other main characters they remained largely the same as how they were left in American Pie: The Wedding.  

Stifler is still the annoying, arrogant guy who everyone still questions why they are friends with him; Oz remains the gentle giant, emotionally in touch with himself; Finch, the typical anarchist intellectual, trying to split himself from mass culture and Kevin, the average everyday guy, unsure of his feelings.    
Like the previous entries the film leaves us with a moral conclusion to the tale, which as I have always felt is a nice touch in the series. 
 
Although this movie did not break any new ground for the series, nor in the genre of comedy, it was still great fun to watch. This film is catered for those who grew up watching the original trilogy as teenagers. As for the new generation of teenagers? They too should enjoy it, although they may find the humour to be rather basic and not fully understand the numerous jokes in reference to the previous films.  

8/10

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