Audiences were served a third and final slice of pie over the weekend when American Wedding, the latest of the American Pie movies, came to theatres Aug. 3. This time around finds the East Great Falls High School alums approaching wedding bells, rather than school bells, while the desert of choice is no longer a pie, but a wedding cake.
Jim (Jason Biggs) is all grown up, but still can't shake his clumsiness and bad timing as he proposes to his band camp love, Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) in an outrageous fiasco even more humiliating than his pie incident from the past. As preparations for the wedding begin, Michelle expresses her desire for the perfect wedding, which means Jim and his friends, Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), must not reveal the news to Stifler (Seann William Scott). But the Stifmeister figures it out and it's not long before he wreaks havoc and humor on every situation. Steven Stifler alternates between screwing things up and haphazardly repairing the damages in the most unorthodox of ways. From a memorable visit to a gay bar to a close encounter with dog doo, Stifler is able to cover his tracks without completely ruining the wedding.
With a predictable plot and the usual ridiculous sexual humor, American Wedding proves to be just another piece of the same pie. But sex sells and so did the movie, which brought in $34.2 million the first weekend. Surprising, since its predecessor, American Pie 2, grossed $145 million and won only mixed reviews.
To increase the possible amount of viewers, screenwriter Adam Herz, producers Paul and Chris Weitz and director J. B. Rogers were smart to age their characters. While American Pie appealed mainly to the high school crowd, American Pie 2 was able to grab the college crowd as well, while American Wedding gained many audience members well into their thirties. With more adult themes and some maturing characters, American Wedding was able to get all of the old fans back, along with some new ones. Time will tell (when the final figures are out) if the new mature idea went over with the kids or just appealed to the post-high-school crowd. Another reason American Wedding could flop is the disappointment of American Pie 2. Some viewers just may not want to go to the theatre to catch this flick and may prefer to wait for video release. But advertising is hitting its target and the soundtrack rocks, so in conjunction with a pretty darn funny trailer, the Pie gang may have gotten the crowds after all.
Steven Stifler seems to have received similar reactions as his character crosses right over the funny line to obnoxious. Still, the males in the theatre sounded very amused by the typical antics of the Stifmeister. In contrast, Finch's character evolved into a witty, sensitive, yet still slightly gooberish college graduate, while Kevin's role is weak and for the most part, pointless. Jim's father (Eugene Levy) is the same overly involved parent walking in at inopportune times and lecturing about the last issues any kid wants to hear from Dad.
Don't expect to see Oz (Chris Klein), Heather (Mena Suvari), Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), or Vickie (Tara Reid) as filmmakers decided they were no longer relevant to the plot. But after watching them grow, it would have been nice to see where post-college has brought them. We are, however, introduced to a new face. Cadence (January Jones) is Michelle's beautiful virgin sister who sparks quite a funny rivalry between Stifler and Finch. Comedy is made when Stifler changes into a preppy, sweater-clad and philosophy-spewing gentleman to win the affections of Cadence and her stuffy parents.
The movie does contain half a dozen very funny scenes - it's what's in between that's below par. But if you don't mind sitting through a fairly predictable plot, a lot of wedding cheese, and some Stifler overload, you'll definitely encounter some scenes that will bring you back to that cringe-laugh feeling from American Pie.
As compared to the original American Pie and its sequel, American Wedding stands somewhere in between. Perhaps it was the freshness and shock value of the first piece of pie that made our mouths water, and maybe it was a high expectation for the second that left our hunger unfulfilled. But by the third we were already full, yet still hungry for a little more, which is exactly what we got: a little more humor, a little more cheesy sentiment, and a little more from Stifler's mom. We also realized that it doesn't matter how you slice it, it's still just another piece of the same pie.
Katie McDevitt is a reporter for the Web Devil. Reach her at kathleen.mcdevitt@asu.edu.
