American Reunion (2012) directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
I think American Pie was the very first rated R movie that I snuck into with a group of friends. It was one of the most awesome things that I had seen at the time and in many ways is one of the iconic coming of age teenage films of the 1990's. It dealt with all the issues of teenage life that horny adolescents thought and cared about, sex, sex and more sex. And it's raunchy absurdity made the film fresh and exciting. Of course there had to be sequels. It is an inevitable fate for Hollywood blockbusters and unfortunately, like in many other series, each installment of the American Pie series has gotten progressively worse. Well, that's not really fair... more like progressively stale. Isn't there a certain age limit for low brow college level sex jokes? And just how much more growing up do 30-something year old men need?
Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and Stiffler are all in their 30's now but with each generation comes a new level of sexual problems. Jim and Michelle are now parents but their sex lives have suffered because of it. Oz has become a celebrity of sorts though still longs for his high school sweetheart Heather. Kevin is happily married but old feelings stir up when he sees his high school sweetheart Vicky again. (What ever happened to Tara Reid's career by the way?) Finch is just gonna Finch. The person with the biggest issues of course is Stiffler who seems to still be stuck in high school despite the fact that he supposedly learned to grow up a bit in the last installment American Wedding almost nine years ago. And that is one of my issues with this series, didn't they all complete their story arcs entering manhood in the last movie? Why was this movie even made?
Some of the jokes are funny, but how many sex jokes can you really sit through for thirteen years? A lot of the initial charm has sort of lost its luster and the movie feels like a shell of its former self. It is nice though catching up on old friends. I did sort of grow up with these guys after all. I just hope I don't have to watch American Mid-Life Crisis ten years from now when they are all complaining about erectile disfunction and the hot secretary they wish they could bang.
Grade: C+
I think American Pie was the very first rated R movie that I snuck into with a group of friends. It was one of the most awesome things that I had seen at the time and in many ways is one of the iconic coming of age teenage films of the 1990's. It dealt with all the issues of teenage life that horny adolescents thought and cared about, sex, sex and more sex. And it's raunchy absurdity made the film fresh and exciting. Of course there had to be sequels. It is an inevitable fate for Hollywood blockbusters and unfortunately, like in many other series, each installment of the American Pie series has gotten progressively worse. Well, that's not really fair... more like progressively stale. Isn't there a certain age limit for low brow college level sex jokes? And just how much more growing up do 30-something year old men need?
Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and Stiffler are all in their 30's now but with each generation comes a new level of sexual problems. Jim and Michelle are now parents but their sex lives have suffered because of it. Oz has become a celebrity of sorts though still longs for his high school sweetheart Heather. Kevin is happily married but old feelings stir up when he sees his high school sweetheart Vicky again. (What ever happened to Tara Reid's career by the way?) Finch is just gonna Finch. The person with the biggest issues of course is Stiffler who seems to still be stuck in high school despite the fact that he supposedly learned to grow up a bit in the last installment American Wedding almost nine years ago. And that is one of my issues with this series, didn't they all complete their story arcs entering manhood in the last movie? Why was this movie even made?
Some of the jokes are funny, but how many sex jokes can you really sit through for thirteen years? A lot of the initial charm has sort of lost its luster and the movie feels like a shell of its former self. It is nice though catching up on old friends. I did sort of grow up with these guys after all. I just hope I don't have to watch American Mid-Life Crisis ten years from now when they are all complaining about erectile disfunction and the hot secretary they wish they could bang.
Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment