MickeyMoose15
08-01-2003, 06:38 PM
Released August 1st, 2003
Director: Jesse Dylan
Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, January Jones, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Fred Willard, Molly Cheek, Eric Allan Kramer, Deborah Rush, Nikki Scheiler-Ziering
Premise: With East Great Falls High now just a memory, the kids have grown into young adults ready wreak havoc with a new rite of passage - Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) are getting married - in a hurry. Jim's grandmother is sick and wants to see Jim walk down the aisle, so they're going for it in two frantic weeks. Stifler (Scott) plans to be there (bridesmaids!), and more importantly to throw the ultimate bachelor party (strippers!). Finch (Thomas) is all for the hedonistic rituals, but not for letting Stifler steal the maid of honor, who happens to be Michelle's sexy younger sister, Cadence (Jones). While everybody else sweats and frets, Jim's Dad (Levy) is cool as ever, dispensing advice that no one wants to hear and getting ready for one of the best days of his life.
Here we go again. The summer season always starts off so promising with such big event films as this year’s X2: X-Men United, The Matrix Reloaded, and Finding Nemo bringing in the masses for some solid entertainment. But as the season goes on, more and more films are released that don’t seem to quite live up to the films the summer started off with. And finally as we arrive to the final month of summer fun, the studios seem to repeat their ploy for the summer in this one month. After the surprising success of The Sixth Sense in August 1999 as well as the success of films like Signs and xXx in the same time period three years later, the studios have began to stand up and take notice that the last month of the summer doesn’t have to be entirely disastrous. With the right story as well as a decent marketing campaign, a studio can still open a film big in the first two weeks of the month while dumping any low budget trash in the closing weeks of the summer. Since there seems to be no Shyamalan film in sight this year, Universal is willing to fill up the slot with the third, and possibly final, installment of their successful American Pie series. After the surprising success of the original in 1999, the box office saw the rebirth of the teen sex comedy genre though few films following in the foot steps of the American Pie film failed to match up. After a successful sequel in 2001, the cast comes together one more time to serve up a slice of pie to the movie-going public. But in a time when sequels have underperformed at the box office, will American Wedding be able to break the curse or will there be nothing but wedding time blues?
The story centers around the marriage of Jim and Michelle as the rest of the American Pie clan clamors to get ready for the big day. The sexual confused group of kids from East Great Falls High has finally grown up and two of them are readying to take the big step into matrimony but there seems to be problems around every corner. Jim, who has subjected himself to a huge amount of public humiliation, has enough trouble trying to please Michelle’s parents but soon realizes he has another problem: He can’t dance. While Jim tries to figure out how to dance, his friends, Kevin and Finch, try to control Stifler, who seems to have plans of his own for the big day. Not only is he excited to through a bachelor party for Jim, with strippers of course, but eyes Michelle’s younger sister, Cadence, who just happens to be a virgin. Like the previous American Pie films, things just seem to go from bad to worse as the day draws closer. The story for American Wedding seems to take itself seriously more then the previous efforts which works wonderfully. Even with that said, the film does seem to offer plenty of gross out humor that continues to surprising even the hardcore American Pie fans. Some of the gross out humor, as funny as it is, is a little too much especially one or more scenes involving Stifler, which the film seems to focus on more then in previous ventures.
Though several cast members of the original two films don’t make appearances in this film, the remaining cast works well enough together that you barely notice the changes. Jason Biggs, who has subjected himself to public humiliation involving a pie as well as superglue, continues his hilarious antics in the third installment in the series that made him famous, in more ways then one. Biggs should have a real promising comedy career seeing that he is willing to do anything for a film including making himself look like a weirdo especially in scenes that showing off his rear end. Alyson Hannigan, who returns as Michelle, isn’t given as much screen time as she should have had but when she is featured; she gives the film its heart which greatly needed outside of the gross humor. Sean William Scott, who returns as the eccentric Stifler, seems to subject himself to as much humiliation as Jason Biggs including a scene to that is so disgusting and so funny that you won’t believe it even when you do see it. Though the character of Stifler seems to be focused on more then in the previous films, he isn’t focused on too much that film distracts the audience from the real story. The real highlight of every American Pie film has to be Eugene Levy, who returns as Jim’s father. Levy, who was the only real funny character in the comedy Bringing Down the House earlier this year, is absolutely hilarious as usual and will hopefully have a long and fruitful comedy career outside of this franchise should this be the last film. The only part of the cast that didn’t seem to work well was Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kevin. He doesn’t really do much for the film and, in fact, doesn’t really even say much through the course of the two hour feature. Why was he included while other members of the cast were cut? Did they really need all the male leads back for the last film? Is that why he was included? There really seems to be no clear answer.
Overall, American Wedding is the one sequel this year that seems to outshine the previous efforts. Though the film is an achievement in that area, there are a few things to pick at. One of those things includes the number of cast members from the original films that were cut from this film. No clear explanation is given to why certain members of the original cast are not invited to the wedding. In fact, they are barely even mentioned outside of a passing note of Nadia. This isn’t a big factor but does seem to pick at the back of the minds of a few fans. Another small problem about the film is some of the gross out humor. Though many of the scenes are very funny and don’t seem to be retreads of scenes from the two prior films, some of gross out humor seems to be too much to take in especially the scene involving Stifler’s search for the lost wedding ring. Outside of those small problems, American Wedding is the best comedy of the summer as well as the year so far. If this is the last film in the American Pie series, it is a wonderful thing to know that the comedy franchise went out on a huge high note.
My Rating: **** out of 5 (Grade: B+)
Director: Jesse Dylan
Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, January Jones, Eugene Levy, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Fred Willard, Molly Cheek, Eric Allan Kramer, Deborah Rush, Nikki Scheiler-Ziering
Premise: With East Great Falls High now just a memory, the kids have grown into young adults ready wreak havoc with a new rite of passage - Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) are getting married - in a hurry. Jim's grandmother is sick and wants to see Jim walk down the aisle, so they're going for it in two frantic weeks. Stifler (Scott) plans to be there (bridesmaids!), and more importantly to throw the ultimate bachelor party (strippers!). Finch (Thomas) is all for the hedonistic rituals, but not for letting Stifler steal the maid of honor, who happens to be Michelle's sexy younger sister, Cadence (Jones). While everybody else sweats and frets, Jim's Dad (Levy) is cool as ever, dispensing advice that no one wants to hear and getting ready for one of the best days of his life.
Here we go again. The summer season always starts off so promising with such big event films as this year’s X2: X-Men United, The Matrix Reloaded, and Finding Nemo bringing in the masses for some solid entertainment. But as the season goes on, more and more films are released that don’t seem to quite live up to the films the summer started off with. And finally as we arrive to the final month of summer fun, the studios seem to repeat their ploy for the summer in this one month. After the surprising success of The Sixth Sense in August 1999 as well as the success of films like Signs and xXx in the same time period three years later, the studios have began to stand up and take notice that the last month of the summer doesn’t have to be entirely disastrous. With the right story as well as a decent marketing campaign, a studio can still open a film big in the first two weeks of the month while dumping any low budget trash in the closing weeks of the summer. Since there seems to be no Shyamalan film in sight this year, Universal is willing to fill up the slot with the third, and possibly final, installment of their successful American Pie series. After the surprising success of the original in 1999, the box office saw the rebirth of the teen sex comedy genre though few films following in the foot steps of the American Pie film failed to match up. After a successful sequel in 2001, the cast comes together one more time to serve up a slice of pie to the movie-going public. But in a time when sequels have underperformed at the box office, will American Wedding be able to break the curse or will there be nothing but wedding time blues?
The story centers around the marriage of Jim and Michelle as the rest of the American Pie clan clamors to get ready for the big day. The sexual confused group of kids from East Great Falls High has finally grown up and two of them are readying to take the big step into matrimony but there seems to be problems around every corner. Jim, who has subjected himself to a huge amount of public humiliation, has enough trouble trying to please Michelle’s parents but soon realizes he has another problem: He can’t dance. While Jim tries to figure out how to dance, his friends, Kevin and Finch, try to control Stifler, who seems to have plans of his own for the big day. Not only is he excited to through a bachelor party for Jim, with strippers of course, but eyes Michelle’s younger sister, Cadence, who just happens to be a virgin. Like the previous American Pie films, things just seem to go from bad to worse as the day draws closer. The story for American Wedding seems to take itself seriously more then the previous efforts which works wonderfully. Even with that said, the film does seem to offer plenty of gross out humor that continues to surprising even the hardcore American Pie fans. Some of the gross out humor, as funny as it is, is a little too much especially one or more scenes involving Stifler, which the film seems to focus on more then in previous ventures.
Though several cast members of the original two films don’t make appearances in this film, the remaining cast works well enough together that you barely notice the changes. Jason Biggs, who has subjected himself to public humiliation involving a pie as well as superglue, continues his hilarious antics in the third installment in the series that made him famous, in more ways then one. Biggs should have a real promising comedy career seeing that he is willing to do anything for a film including making himself look like a weirdo especially in scenes that showing off his rear end. Alyson Hannigan, who returns as Michelle, isn’t given as much screen time as she should have had but when she is featured; she gives the film its heart which greatly needed outside of the gross humor. Sean William Scott, who returns as the eccentric Stifler, seems to subject himself to as much humiliation as Jason Biggs including a scene to that is so disgusting and so funny that you won’t believe it even when you do see it. Though the character of Stifler seems to be focused on more then in the previous films, he isn’t focused on too much that film distracts the audience from the real story. The real highlight of every American Pie film has to be Eugene Levy, who returns as Jim’s father. Levy, who was the only real funny character in the comedy Bringing Down the House earlier this year, is absolutely hilarious as usual and will hopefully have a long and fruitful comedy career outside of this franchise should this be the last film. The only part of the cast that didn’t seem to work well was Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kevin. He doesn’t really do much for the film and, in fact, doesn’t really even say much through the course of the two hour feature. Why was he included while other members of the cast were cut? Did they really need all the male leads back for the last film? Is that why he was included? There really seems to be no clear answer.
Overall, American Wedding is the one sequel this year that seems to outshine the previous efforts. Though the film is an achievement in that area, there are a few things to pick at. One of those things includes the number of cast members from the original films that were cut from this film. No clear explanation is given to why certain members of the original cast are not invited to the wedding. In fact, they are barely even mentioned outside of a passing note of Nadia. This isn’t a big factor but does seem to pick at the back of the minds of a few fans. Another small problem about the film is some of the gross out humor. Though many of the scenes are very funny and don’t seem to be retreads of scenes from the two prior films, some of gross out humor seems to be too much to take in especially the scene involving Stifler’s search for the lost wedding ring. Outside of those small problems, American Wedding is the best comedy of the summer as well as the year so far. If this is the last film in the American Pie series, it is a wonderful thing to know that the comedy franchise went out on a huge high note.
My Rating: **** out of 5 (Grade: B+)