American Reunion (John
Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg, 2012)
Jim, Michelle, Stifler, and their
friends reunite in East Great Falls, Michigan for their high school reunion.
Having
been approx the same age that those dudes were back in 1999, I always felt
connected with Jim (Jason Biggs),
Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicolas) Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas), Oz (Chris
Klein), and even Stifler (Seann
William Scott). The raunchy humor widely inspired by Bob Clark’s Porky’s and
transposed to the Y Generation with the usual teenage preoccupations of sex,
partying, and getting together with your friends relates to everyone that is in
the same barrel of ages as I am. Thirteen years after the first American Pie, we see the reunion of
those boys getting together and reconnecting with their inner teen. Some are
now men but most still are teens. This is a somewhat second coming of age for
those losers that we learned to appreciate like the friend that sticks around
even if no one is really friends with him.
The
real deal is the nostalgia of the characters and the audience that relates to
the first films. Almost every character is brought back and the Jim’s Dad (Eugene Levy) and Stifler’s Mom (Jennifer Coolidge) scenes reminds us
that those two talented actors can bring to a supporting role some substance.
It is clear that of all the actors billed they are the ones that have the most
comical talent.
Without
being a fresh breath to the comedy genre, like the first film was in some way
look at all the films it influenced, American
Reunion is the right follow-up to American
Wedding, intentionally I’m not mentioning all the direct to DVD releases
with the name American Pie travesties here. Even if the comedy is mostly
predictable and we know for sure that if it was a Woody Allen movie Jim would cheat on Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), Finch would be a pedant intellectual, etc.
However, besides being conservative on the story side and being raunchy in the
sex themes and dialogues I was expecting a little more from the Unrated
Version. I might be too acquainted to irreverent humor and the impact the troubles
those guys are getting into isn’t as over the top as a masterpiece like The Big Lebowski is. Well, I wasn’t
expecting a Lebowski but I can make a
reference right? Tara Reid stars in
both films. I recommend American Reunion for all the ones who laughed at American Pie and want to reconnect with
those characters. However, if you didn’t liked them don’t bother.
