American Pie: The Wedding

Review by Clint Morris

It's time for a third slice of "Pie" - but just how many more uncompromising positions can Jason Biggs be caught in?

At least one more - thinks writer Adam Herz.

Having spent most of his highschool days hunting tail, and later while on summer break from college, realising his heart belongs to endearing nymphet Michelle [Alyson Hannigan], Jim [Jason Biggs] decides it's time to settle down.

And quick... Jim's grandmother is sick and wants to see Jim walk down the aisle, so they're going for it in two frantic weeks.

Finch [Eddie Kaye Thomas] and Kevin [Thomas Ian Nichols] look like sharing best man duties, until Stifler [Sean William Scott] overhears the news and invites himself to proceedings. And unfortunately for Finch, Stifler's got his eye on Michelle's sister [January Jones] too.

But needless to say, as many hijinks ensue, the wedding will take place - but not before Jim's dad can swell a last word of fatherly advice.

Seems the more sequels they do to Pie, the less flavorsome they become. The last sequel was reasonable, but lacked a lot of the heart and laugh-out-loud moments that the first film possessed.

This third lacks all the heart of the first movie, as well as dumping a bunch of characters and, unfortunately, anything resembling a worthy script.

You can point the blame finger at Director Jesse Dylan (How High). He doesn't seem to have the know-how to successfully combine great laugh out loud moments with the right amount of sentimentally, as the first film's directors, the Weitz Brothers, and even to an extent the sequels' helmer James B.Rogers, did.

Dylan's film is as watered down a sequel as you can get - it's funny, but bares very little resemblance to the other two movies. Had Sean William Scott's 'Stifler' not have been played so over-the-top and mostly unbearable, and been performed closer to the character that was in the original, it might have passed for a Stifler : The Movie, since the guy occupies nearly every scene (it's amazing what rising status can do).

But as it stands, it's merely an hour and a half of reasonable gags -- mostly toilet humour in disparity to the witty gags of the first film -- delivered by whatever cast members agreed to return which, evidently, is only a few, considering Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Natasha Lyonne, and Tara Reid have all opted out.

And poor old Thomas Ian Nicholas, as Kevin, barely gets any screen time at all here: He's more window dressing than anything - maybe he should have done the same and jumped ship?

But, fortunately, there are some saving graces.

There's a few very funny moments - one involving a gay bar, one involving strippers and the in-laws, and another involving Stifler eating dog dung - and most of the remaining cast are pretty good - but Scott, who the heck are you playing man?! And Tim Allen, wasn't he supposed to be playing your Dad?

The music is, as always, fantastic, but if you're going to enjoy the latest American Pie film, you'd best think of it as an independent comedy - it plays better that way.

3 out of 5

American Pie: The Wedding
Australian release: Thursday August 7th
Cast: Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eugene Levy, January Jones, Eric Allan Kramer.
Director: Jesse Dylan.
Website: Click Here

Brought to you by MovieHole