Tagged: Lawrence Pressman
American Wedding (2003)
Forever hold your last piece. That’s right, your last piece until the reunion.
With high school a distant memory, Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are getting married — and in a hurry, since Jim’s grandmother is sick and wants to see him walk down the aisle — prompting Stifler (Seann William Scott) to throw the ultimate bachelor party. And Jim’s dad (Eugene Levy) is reliable as ever, doling out advice no one wants to hear.
With the reunion come around soon, I thought that it would be a great idea to check out all three of the main ‘American Pie’ flicks and screw those other straight-to-dvd pieces of crap. Straight-to-dvd always blows.
Going into this flick you have to realize what you’re going to get right off the bat and that is exactly what this flick does and makes no apologies for that which is fine for me. There’s a whole bunch of gross-out gags that are actually disgusting and you can tell that the writers’ intentions are to actually make people hurl this time around. I usually don’t get disgusted by certain gags like these ones in movies, but there was one scene where it actually had me gagging just a bit. Just a bit though. Despite being disgusting though, they are still pretty funny and a couple of scenes where we find Jim and Stifler getting caught in some pretty messed up situations had me laughing just about every time they showed up. Didn’t have me laughing my ass off by any means but there was definitely a huge amount of chuckles that brought a big smile onto my face.
What I also liked about this film was how there was still an under-lining sweetness here that made all of the ugly things going on here, seem not so bad after all. In the 2nd movie, the best part of it all was the sweet, little romance Jim and Michelle had going on and every time their romance showed up it made me smile. Here, the film touches on that and it was just really great to see two sweet hearts come together and finally say their vows together. I think it’s just great to see these two finally end up perfectly together like we’ve always wanted to see them and that adds a lot to the film’s tone.
However, my main problem with this flick was that I also felt like they didn’t really focus on them that much and the film was more about Stifler then anything. Don’t get me wrong though, Stifler is the effin’ man and had me laughing with just about everything he said but it was Jim and Michelle’s wedding after all and I think they deserved moire of the spot-light. I also felt like they barely went over any of the problems that would come inside two people who were about to get married such as whether or not either of them are having cold feet or not, or just whether or not they want to go through with this. Sounds like a little bit too much to ask from an ‘American Pie’ movie but there still could have been some more here.
Seann William Scott is great as Stifler though and is easily one of the main reasons why this film works because he’s an asshole, a dick, and total pompous asshole that just wants to get some ladies in his bed but he gets to show a little bit of his nice side too. He doesn’t turn around 180 degrees and say he’s sorry for anything but he shows a bit more heart in here than we expected and that’s all that matters. Everybody else here is great too but it’s really strange how the whole original gang is all missing. I get it that not everybody wanted to come back and possibly couldn’t have for this third flick but it just felt even stranger that barely any mention of them or where they are that couldn’t make them apart of this wedding was made at all. It all just felt weird without the original gang here but then again, I guess that’s why they’re having this reunion after all so I guess that’s all that matters.
Consensus: American Wedding is exactly what you can expect from the 3rd flick of its series: gross-out humor, Stifler acting like an ass, and an under-lining sweetness. The problem with this one though is that it’s a little bit too much about Stifler and could have focused a lot more on Jim and Michelle, aka the two peeps who were actually getting married here.
7.5/10=Rental!!
American Pie (1999)
Main reasons as to why I’m letting my senior year go out with a bang!
A group of four horny high school buddies decide to make a pact in which they all plan to lose their virginities before the high school prom. In their valiant quest for getting their collective rocks off, the boys get into all kinds of trouble and wildly unpredictable hilarity ensues.
Since the reunion of this famous high school film series is coming up some time soon, I thought what better way to take a trip down memory lane and make me realize how much I’m going to miss my days as a high schooler.
One of the main reasons why ‘American Pie’ is considered the classic that it is today is because it’s a teen sex comedy flick that doesn’t have us forget that and makes no apologies for it either. I mean this is one of those high school comedies where there is just so much raunch, gross-out visual gags, and obvious sex jokes that for the biggest stickler to dirty stuff will probably piss away this flick, but for the horned-up, sex-crazed teenager like myself and plenty of other ones out there too, I loved it. The jokes are dirty, yes, but they are also hilarious and with every situation that seemed to get even funnier and grosser just as the film went on where it felt like these guys could pull anything out of their ass, and they probably would too. It’s definitely one of those raunchy comedies that are for a certain audience, but if you are that audience, you will have an absolute ball. Hell, try to guess what the title is actually about! I can tell you it’s not named after that Don McLean song.
Probably what’s so much better about this flick apart from it’s gross-out comedy stuff is the fact that it does a pretty realistic job at capturing just what it’s like to be in high school. The essence is here in every scene such as when you feel peer-pressured into doing such things as sex with a major babe or taking a couple of brewskies, and even those moments with the other high school classmate that are just awkward beyond belief but at the time you’re not really thinking and you don’t care either way. Being in high school myself right now (as you could have probably already assumed), this one hit close to home with me because I could identify with everything that these characters were going through and it just felt honest, real, but also totally hilarious in just how everything played out and the film never loses that funny edge to it.
But you don’t even need to be in high school at the present time to fully enjoy it, all you have to do is remember all of the people that made up your best (and sometimes worst) moments of high school and also the other little people in between like the skanks, or the jocks, or the weirdos, or even the parents that always seem to be up your ass trying to pep you up about sex and tell you what’s right and what isn’t. It’s all so true and the way that first-time director Paul Weitz was able to show this makes it even better considering it brought back the high school teen sex comedy back from the grave that it was in for so damn long.
Another great aspect of this film is that its characters aren’t terribly unlikable pieces of shit that you wouldn’t want to even sit next to in class, let alone spend a whole hour and 36 minutes with, they are actually sweet characters that you care for and want to be around more and more. Jason Biggs is perhaps the most impressive here as Jim because he totally just lets himself loose, degrading himself on countless occasions just to do anything for a quick laugh and it always had me laughing my ass off. He’s also incredibly nerdy which gave me that type of idea that he’s like what Woody Allen would be like in a comedy like ‘Porky’s‘. His dad, played by the always funny Eugene Levy, is also hilarious and the father-son duo they got going on here works because it feels so real in a very funny way.
Everybody else in the cast is great too and every character is just worth mentioning because they all add something to the film that makes it what it is known as today. Chris Klein is perfect as the sensitive jock, Oz; Eddie Kaye Thomas is funny as the sophiscated and high-standard type known as Finch; Thomas Ian Nicholas is good as the inspired virgin, Kevin; Alyson Hannigan is so damn cute and charming as the band weenie, Michelle, and easily brings out the best moments in the flick; Natasha Lyonne is hip and cool as the chick who knows everything about anything, Jessica; Mena Survari is nice as the sweet choir singer, Heather; and Tara Reid is just fine as Vicky. Oh yeah let’s not forget to mention that the biggest high light of this flick is probably every time Seann William Scott shows up as Steve Stifler, but you know what? There’s nothing else that needs to be said about just how amazing of a character this dude is and how great Scott is at playing him considering he plays the same character just about in every movie now.
Also, can’t forget to mention Shannon Elizabeth either but I think we all know why I can’t forget. Rawrrrrr!
Consensus: American Pie may not be for the more older/sophisticated types but who it is for, works in every single way from it’s acting, to its gross-out gags, humor, atmosphere, embarrassing reality of what it’s like to be in high school, and also will probably bring you back to thinking about the days of you and your pals in the day and all of the people who made it what it was.
9/10=Full Price!!
