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AMERICAN PIE Send This Review to a Friend
Calling all libidinous high school or college students and any adult, male or female, who remembers the angst that went with trying to have sex for the first time. "American Pie," set in and around a Michigan high school, is mostly about getting laid, and since it is very funny, with the requisite amount of comic grossness, it stands to be an enormous summer hit. How wrong can it go with so much concentration on sex? What a date movie!
In their first feature, brothers Chris Weitz (co-producer) and Paul Weitz (director) bring Adam Hertz's savvy screenplay to life and tap into the kind of raunchy escapades so currently popular. As the widely viewed coming attractions--excuse the expression--have already heralded, there's a scene in which Jason Biggs as the horny but frustrated Jim sticks his you-know-what into mom's apple pie to see what sex might feel like. In walks dad.
That's not all. There's a sperm-enhanced glass of beer and a laxative-enriched drink slipped to a male student so up-tight he doesn't normally use the school toilets. The internet also gets extra imaginative use when a filmed bedroom romp meant for a few of the boys inadvertently snags a considerably broader audience.
If this all sounds like male hell-raising, it is, but the filmmakers have also had the good judgment to create several good female roles. Vicky and Heather, played charmingly by Tara Reid and Mena Suvari, demand to be taken seriously. Michelle, played with unrelieved perkiness by Aylson Hannigan, has a surprise in store. Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) is intelligently sassy. The movie's major sex object is Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), and even she has a mind of her own.
As for the guys, they are all deftly played. In addition to plaudits for the picture-stealing Biggs, praise is due Chris Klein as the jock Oz, so good in the recent "Election," and Thomas Ian Nicholas, Chris Owen, Seann W. Scott, and Eddie Kaye Thomas. Eugene Levy delivers deadpan hilarity as Jim's father, ever bent on giving his son the clumsiest of useless sexual advice.
The plot is structured around a group of desperate guys who vow to have sex on prom night, but the film actually attempts to develop a sensitive side by saying something meaningful pertaining to relationships. That's not the strongest point; the film's success lies in the outrageous exploits, mishaps and pranks, interspersed with the gross moments sure to spark howls of laughter along with the obligatory cringing.
The Weitz brothers, who have probably struck gold with "American Pie," come from a heady milieu. They are the grandsons of renowned agent Paul Kohner and the sons of fashion designer and writer John Weitz and actress Susan Kohner. Their film should also turn out to be a major showcase for its winsome cast members. A Universal Pictures release.
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