Really, it's important to say that I actually was a big fan of all of
the previous American Pie movies but this latest establishment did
absolutely nothing for me!
The first "American Pie" movie, made back in 1999, was one that changed
the genre, or at least sort of brought back the teenage sex comedies,
by making it fun and daring again. The series, in my opinion, continued
in good form, until this movie. Out of all the American Pie movies,
this is the absolute most redundant and less innovative one.
It's maybe also partly because of it that ever since the first
"American Pie" movie, tons of similar movies got made and the bar got
actually raised- and the genre reinvented again by a couple of other
genre movies. This movie does absolutely nothing to try to raise the
bar again, or become a relevant movie within its genre. Or maybe I'm
just getting too old for these sort of movies and type of comedies but
I highly doubt that, since I actually do like to watch genre movies
like this one, from time to time, such as most recently "Project X",
for instance.
The main premise itself actually sounded quite good and promising;
having a reunion with all of the characters from the first movie in it,
13 years after the first movie and 9 years after "American Wedding".
But the thing is; the movie does absolutely nothing with its concept.
I don't feel that any the characters have progressed at all. They are
still all the same and don't look to have matured very much. It would
had been interesting to see how their lives progressed and eventually
ended up all but the movie really doesn't know how to handle this.
What's the point of having the characters look back, while they haven't
changed one bit. It already makes the main idea and concept of the
movie an incredibly flawed one but there are far more problems with
this movie.
It just simply isn't a very well written or made movie. One of other
problems with its story is that it wants to have far too many subplots
in it. It also makes a movie called "American Reunion" shockingly
little about an actual reunion. It doesn't even ever look or feel that
some of these guys hadn't seen each other for years. It's just the same
old, same old, with as a difference that we get to see a bunch of
30-year old's doing teenage stuff, which isn't all that compelling or
tasteful, in my opinion. It certainly also makes the comedy of this
movie more lacking as well.
And because the movie tries to focus on so many characters and their
story lines, none of them ever work out well enough. The movie doesn't
develop or resolve any of them properly or satisfying enough, while the
movie obviously did had some good ideas in it.
Another thing with this movie is that you first need to have seen at
least the very first movie. This is not a standalone movie. It very
much is a sequel that relies a lot on it that its viewers are already
familiar with all of the characters and what happened to them in the
previous movies. It actually is important to watch the previous three
movie, just prior to this one, or else you will miss a lot. Literally
almost every character from the first "American Pie" movie pops up into
this one, even if it's for just a couple of seconds. And even while I
was a big fan of the first movies, I had absolutely no idea any more
who all of these people were, or why they were relevant for this movie
at all.
A disappointment really and that is coming from a person who loved the
first American Pie movies!
5/10
Watch trailer
The original gang is back and still have the comedic timing they did 13 years ago, which is always fun no matter what. There isn’t anything new or special about this entry into the series but for anyone who wants some nice 1999 nostalgia, then this is the perfect fit. Good review Frank. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the last two “main” sequels this series has had.
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