American Reunion

The American Pie gang is back.
With (roughly) ten years having passed since the first movies, the cast from the American Pie trilogy has a perfect excuse to return with a fourth installment – the high school reunion. “American Reunion” brings all the old classmates back in to town to reconnect and reminisce for a weekend. Of course they bring new problems with them that they didnt have in high school, seeing as they’re older… Marriage, children, careers, etc. Yet put them all together and they find a way to fall right back into their familiar rhythms and drunken sex antics.
Surprisingly though, “American Reunion” was a really well done comedy, with the added bonus of getting to spend time with old familiar, characters. It all added up to be highly enjoyable…
Just like warm apple pie.

“American Reunion” opens with Jim and Michelle. Still married, they now have a young son. I didn’t say “happily” married, however, because the two have fallen into a bit of a rut as far as their love life is concerned… they’ve lost that loving feeling. It seems like something that married couples would work through, but it happens to be rearing its head just before their high school reunion.
In this case, the high school class in question is the class of ’99.
As much as things have changed, many things still remain the same. Jim still can not get sexually aroused with any degree of privacy or physical safety. Thankfully, his father is still around to provide uncomfortably frank counsel. Steve Stifler is still as obnoxious as ever, perhaps even more so now that the rest of the group has matured. “Oz” Ostreicher has become a bit of a celebrity, with a career in sports broadcasting and an appearance on “Celebrity Dance Off” under his belt. Paul Finch has begun traveling the world, and still occasionally reminsces about Stifler’s mom. And Kevin Myers remains the character who you’re just not sure what his role is in the movie.
Putting them together reignites many of the same behaviors of past movies. There’s drinking and partying, hooking up, MILFs, and plenty of awkward sexual situations. Jim’s next door neighbor has grown up into an attractive young teenager, and she wants to act out on her childhood crush on him. Of course, this is going to complicate the already tenuous situation between Jim and Michelle. Add in the fact that Stifler is driven to throw a wild pre-reunion party so he can hook up with chicks, and you can see how things might get out of hand. The rest of the gang is brought along for the ride, including Jim’s dad, who is recently a widower, and who comes along to “get out of the house”. Of course, he winds up encoutnering Stifler’s mom. In fact, several of the cast deal with romances, but just like the first “American Pie”, they really only serve to but some breathers into the comedy.
And I have to say… it was a really good comedy.
It was really, really, funny. Seriously, I laughed pretty much from beginning to end. At times like, really cracking up. The movie didnt break any new ground, but it never felt like a straight up reheat, either. They just took the “American Pie” players, with as solid an excuse as any (the reunion), and created a new set of situations for them to get into. I’ll have to say that a lot of the enjoyment of this flick had to have come from revisiting the characters again, because it can’t be THAT good… but I was laughing through like the entire movie. Stifler was back in people’s faces, Jim is caught in every kind of embarrassing situation imaginable, and even Oz has some funny moments this time. Jim’s dad (Eugene Levy) and Stifler’s mom (Jennifer Coolidge) have one of the funniest post credits sequences you’re ever going to see. The comedy is crude and lewd at times, but they do it very well. The pacing is great, the jokes are solid, and the cast holds up their end.
All in all it greatly exceeded my expectations, and I went in hoping it was going to be good. The familiarity with the cast and characters added a level of nostalgic comfort to a well written comedy, and I laughed for through the entire showing.
Fans of the original series should consider this “Can’t Miss”.