Movie Info
Movie Name: American Reunion
Studio: Relativity Media
Genre(s): Comedy
Release Date(s): April 6, 2012
MPAA Rating: R
They missed the tenth anniversary, but now the class is back for the thirteenth. Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) and his wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) find their relationship is in a slump as Jim also tries to deal with his widowed father Noah (Eugene Levy). Oz (Chris Klein) is a successful broadcaster with a model girlfriend…but still has feelings for Heather (Mena Suvari). Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) finds temptation with Vicky (Tara Reid). Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) has become the most interesting man in the world and Stiffler (Seann William Scott) is hiding his lackluster life by trying to reignite his sex craved past…the reunion is on and it is time for another piece of pie!
Directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, American Reunion is sometimes called American Pie 4: Reunion or American Pie: Reunion. The movie followed the theatrical American Wedding in 2003 and the straight-to-DVD American Pie Presents: The Book of Love in 2009.
I never was a big fan of the American Pie movies. I found them ok but not great (like many). This entry in the series was a little different in that it felt like a bit of a change. The characters are “adults”…and this both helps and hurts.
I like that there is some indication that the characters need to grow up. I didn’t find a lot of their antics funny when they were kids so the same type of events happening as adults is even less funny (and realistic). They are no longer cute…they are just kind of gross pervs.
The movie reunites the original cast after a scaled back version in American Wedding. The movie also manages to balance the film better with a less Stifler-centric plot. I don’t feel Chris Klein is the greatest of actors but it is good to have his character back along with much of the supporting class…as someone who has gone to a few reunions, it is kind of fun to explore the weirdness of it…like encounters with the Sherminator.
The movie continues to look like something that could have been straight to video. I figure at this point that most of the money to make the movie is spent on getting the cast back. It is a comedy, but it looks like a cheap comedy.
American Reunion was a success and therefore I can’t see this trend ending. I did feel this movie was a slight improvement over some of the other American films…emphasize slight. I imagine that fifteen years from now we’ll be seeing Jim and Michelle’s kid having sex with a pie as the cycle begins again.
Related Links:
American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005)
American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006)