(reviewed at the mecca with jack, steve, and debbie on Sunday morning, Aug. 12th, 2001)
In February of 2000 I finally saw American Pie. Like most, I thought of it as the next generation of Porky’s. What I realize now is that American Pie, the first one, may have had a lot of hilarious sexual hi-jinks from High Schoolers, but it wasn’t as bad as Porky’s. The first American Pie had some “gross” scenes like the infamous fucking the apple pie incident. But all in all, that film was never as over-the-top ludicrous or as silly as Porky’s.
Yes, a High School senior had sex with a much older woman. Yes, a premature ejaculation was shown live via the internet. And yes, a red headed nerd was secretly fed a laxative so that he had to take a horrendously loud shit in the girls bathroom.
Okay. I admit it. American Pie was silly and over-the-top and funny, but for my money, it was never as stupid or dumb as Porky’s or The Revenge of the Nerds. American Pie was in a class by itself. It was a great movie.
The sequel, American Pie 2, however, fits perfectly with Porky’s and Nerds. Why? Because the sequel has no heart. It’s all gross out gags and ridiculousness. It’s like they forgot that the first film was half-gross out but also half realistic. The sequel is the kind of film that you watch and laugh at a few parts, but you come out saying, “The first one was better.” American Pie 2, for my money, is the kind of film that you see and wish the word “sequel” didn’t exist. Yes, AP was a lot of fun. Yes, we laughed at Stiffler and at Finch and at Jim and Nadia’s love interest. It was a great film. It was legendary. Does that mean we need a sequel? No.
Sadly, Universal only saw the bottom line, and at least they got back the entire cast and screenwriter (though Paul and Chris Weitz, the co-directors, smartly disappeared).
The last time we saw the guys was at Dog Years, toasting their sodas to “the next step.” We cut to the last day of their first year at college where coincidentally some of the main characters not only go to the same schools but have the same classes. The guys head back to East Great Falls, Michigan where they all decide to rent a summer house for the, uh, summer. It’s right up against Lake Michigan. And it is gigantic and huge and right on the beach, yet they have no problem affording it. Go figure.
Basically, American Pie 2 focuses on the summer with the guys by the lake.
That’s it. There isn’t really a “plot”, not like they needed one. After all, the first film’s only plot was about losing one’s virginity before High School graduation.
If you have seen any previews for this film, then, sadly, you have seen just about every funny scene in the thing. The best aspects of this flick are Stiffler (of course, although he isn’t nearly as funny as he was in the first one…it seems like the crew overdid his part a bit…he’s funnier in small bits), the Sherminator (and we never do find out who invited him to their beach house in the first place), and the walkie talkie scene. Yes, the walkie talkie scene is more or less a complete rip-off of the internet scene, but it works, and it is the funniest and best thing in the entire film. As for what doesn’t work? Everything else. I won’t ruin anything, but Michelle, the red headed band geek, shows up more than once or twice, and sadly, she isn’t funny at all. The other bad aspect is the total waste of the other characters. Finch is given nothing funny to do. Kevin and his old girlfriend are more or less just there. They get nothing to do. Jim is given more abusive and embarrassing hi-jinks, but none of them are nearly as funny as the apple pie debacle. And the worst part of this film is the ridiculousness of it. The first film may have some odd things like internet stripping, but at least it was based in a world of reality. The world this sequel takes place in is a fucking fantasy realm. They added way too much silliness that would have been better suited in Porky's.
American Pie 2 on it’s own would have been a funny film. But the first one was so much better, so much fresher, and so much funnier. It had everything and more. This one is a pale imitation. It’s not that funny, it’s boring, it’s too long, and it wastes everything the first film cemented. I hate when sequels diminish their predecessors. And sometimes, sometimes you wish the word “sequel” never existed. *1/2 (out of ****)
No comments:
Post a Comment