New Release: American Reunion


I had the honor of seeing this with a friend who is a little older than I am.  As we were leaving the movie he put the math together and realized that essentially I am the same age as the American Pie franchise kids.  Actually I'm 2 years older, but yes, these kids went to school about the exact same time I did, so the music references, clothing references, etc. were not lost on me.  All of that is good because this movie relies REALLY heavily on the nostalgia factor of people at their 13th reunion.  21 Jump Street recently relied on this kind of nostalgia as well - comparing "kids today" to what high school was like in the early 90s - including "remembering" almost every single joke from the previous films.  "Remember that one time, at band camp ..."


Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Allyson Hannigan) have been married for a while now and have a toddler.  They used to be an oversexed couple, but have resorted to self-pleasure since their son was born, to the detriment of their marriage.  They return to their hometown for their 13th reunion, with all the characters from the original.  Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), who used to date Vicki (Tara Reid) is now married and a stay at home husband who watches "Housewives", "The Bachelor" and "Kathy Lee and Hoda".  Oz (Chris Klein) is now a commentator for a sports show and did a knock off of "Dancing with the Stars" and has become pretty famous.  He runs into Heather "Choir Chick" (Mena Suvari) and realizes, as he did in high school, that he doesn't like the person he has become since they stopped dating.  Meanwhile Finch arrives relating stories of his many adventures.  So they're all kind of successful.  Then we see Stiffler (Seann William Scott), who really hasn't made anything of his life because life has changed since high school, but of course he hasn't.


They realize, of course, that you can't go home again and that while high school might have been great, your own life is pretty good too.  There is a fair amount of new humor - Jim's 18-year-old neighbor gets drunk and hits on Jim, and a good supply of actual problems and discussion, but most of the movie relives the glory days of the previous films.  The best parts of the movie are almost all Eugene Levy as Jim's dad.  Either his discussions with Jim about how to fix his marriage or getting drunk with Stiffler and finding Stiffler's mom pretty attractive.  Otherwise, there just isn't enough new heart or information to actually like the characters.  I suppose they succeeded with what almost everyone realizes after attending their own reunions - high school was good, but you don't want to do it again.  The filmmakers should stick to that idea when pondering another installment.

9 comments:

  1. I know that the filmmakers were never going to try to do anything special with this film, but that's a shame since I think taking stock of who these characters were and who they have become would be fascinating - especially considering the checkered success the actors involved have achieved.

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  2. PS - Just out of curiosity, who makes a point of going to their thirteenth high school reunion?

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    1. That's EXACTLY what I said when the trailer premiered. Perhaps they couldn't get everyone together in '09 (maybe a Tara Reid rehab was stopping them), but it still seems a bit silly and might have been better to wait till '14 for a normal 15-year reunion.

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  3. I've been on the fence about this one. Unfortunately, I couldn't rely on my "decade sequel" rule and immediately write it off, since the last REAL sequel (American Wedding, none of those direct-to-video releases) was in 2003, just barely missing the cutoff.

    But your review has echoed my fears that this would be more of a rehash of glory days than anything. Sounds like an eventual iTunes rental, but nothing to leave the house for.

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  4. It had some funny moments, but no, there wasn't a lot to leave the house for. A rental would be worth it, even though it'll be on TV a thousand times, the swearing is clever at times and will be edited out for TV I'm sure since it's pretty dirty as well as suggestive.

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  5. And the 13th reunion is because their class "couldn't get it together in time for the 10th" so they moved it. As the class below me in high school missed their 10th and did an 11th, this didn't really phase me.

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    1. I wonder if they did want to do this in '09 and couldn't "get it together" and so they make mention of it in the movie as a nod to reality...if so, that'd be kinda clever.

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  6. Echoed my thoughts pretty well there, Jess. My thoughts basically come down to this single sentence: good story, wrong script.

    The PIE franchise - even, to a lesser degree but still, AMERICAN WEDDING - has heart to it. Sure, there's plenty of raunch, sex, and immaturity, but that's just another element of the series' DNA. In order for this film to be successful, it needed to balance both, and also deliver it in a way that does the prior films justice. This was the right story - the script just wasn't there. Exhibit A: Kevin and Vicky's 'situation'. Kevin, as a character, is, say, Sub(plot)Actor4, his arc regulated to probably no more than four scenes. Exhibit B: Stifler's arc was pushed aside in favor of his personality coming out. Exhibit C: Finch. That was a interesting twist - just coulda used more.

    And Hell Yes! Jim's Dad (apparently named Noah - was this mentioned earlier in the series?) and Stifler's Mom getting together, especially during the credits scene, was HILARIOUS. As was Stifler's payback about Finch banging his mom. That was good stuff. Nice review!

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  7. Hey Andy, I think you nailed it. The subplots didn't live up to the previous incarnations at all. Hell, even the main story (Jim and Michelle's marriage) was too weighed down to hold up the film.

    But Jim's Dad really worked. He did a great job with what he was given. I was nervous when the trailers showed he was in it more than the others, but it really worked. But I hope they don't get the idea for a spin-off.

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