Review of American Pie

Introduction

A charming, puerile, coy, mildly amusing but achingly desperate teen sex comedy, more in the tradition of ‘Porkys’ than ‘Clueless’. The story follows four friends: Jim, Finch, Kevin and Oz who, after a Geek at a friend’s party spends a night of passion with a babe, make a sacred pact to lose their virginity by Prom Night. Homoerotic subtext aside, ‘American Pie’ uses this droll gimmick to stage a series of twisted/disgusting/corny set-pieces, some great, some not, its a decidely hit-and-miss affair.

Video

We get an anamorphic transfer (I’ll pretend I noticed that it made a difference) which is indeed very clear, but a bit dark at times. Also, for some strange reason the colourisation seems off in a few scenes.

Audio

A typically clean sonic experiance.

Features

Another stock-piled Universal/Columbia release: we get a pretty manipulative ‘Spotlight: On Location’ documentary; some very brief outtakes, featuring some more graphic pie-humpage; the giddy theatrical trailer; some toys to play with on your DVD-ROM; A rather cool menu system which allows you to watch your favourite quotes and listen to your favourite music tracks from the film; some production and cast and crew notes. Best of all however, is the Commentary, which stands as one of the more entertaining alternative tracks yet on DVD, most of the cast has been reassembled (strangely none of the female cast members, so don’t be surprised when talk turns to towards that of the locker-room variety) its genuinely very funny, spewing out countless amusing anecdotes from the film and a plethora of continuity errors.

Conclusion

In its favour ‘American Pie’ treats its characters with a unilateral sympathy which is charming and engaging. However, curious for a film about a bunch of crass, one-track minded virgins, ‘American Pie’ is so desperate to be loved that it will literally do anything to win our favour: a semen in beer gag, gratuitous tit-shots, yet another laxative gag, f***ing apple pies and the now rudimentary masturbation scene (now in double fingers as 1999’s most omnipotent movie trait). Most cynical of all however, are the stories more sentimental aspects, clearly manufactured in order to win over a female audience, no doubt dubious, or disgusted, by this sure-fire guy-zone of gross-out humour.

Ironically, the best gags come out of nowhere, totally unexpected and wonderfully aloof. And the cast is likeable, particularly the preppy, quasi sophisticate Finch and the sleazy, shallow, profanity strewn Jock, Stiffler. Jason Biggs’ Jim, the film’s oft-humiliated protagonist is also strong, undergoing every possible degradation imaginable in order to get that glorious first lay. But what do the boys discover, well what do you expect in fundamentally brain-dead, rights of passage movies like this? Of course the moral is that sex isn’t all its cracked up to be and intimacy and friendship are so much better. Like ‘There’s Something About Mary’, ‘American Pie’ only pretends to be a twisted bad-taste-fest, in reality, its scared of its own reflection. Luckily for the viewer, the trip is worth making. Just.