Review by Jim Chastain II
Norman Transcript

American Pie is clearly an adult film. The movie is rated R, which if I remember right excludes anyone under seventeen without adult supervision. In fact, the film nearly received the disastrous NC-17 rating, about the worst rating a studio film can get these days. Yet the film is set entirely in high school. Am I the only one who finds it strange to watch an adult film which deals almost exclusively with the plight of non-adults?

American Pie is all about the sexual frustrations of four high school friends, all male of course. These four hormonally-challenged teenagers are embarrassed by their virginity and have made the a solemn pact to rid themselves of this social stigma by no later than prom night. This is a common theme to movies, the pre-arranged male conquest of the female, and the results are usually catastrophic.

American Pie is no different. It is, however, a lot less shy about getting there. With a raunchy, no holding back approach, American Pie takes us to places most movies dare not go (and for good reason). Putting it bluntly, if you want to see a movie which seems obsessed with masturbation, this flick's for you.

American Pie opts for a big slice of gross-out humor, outrageous bathroom gags, and plain old situational silliness. For some, especially those in the prohibited viewing categories, this will be just fine. For me, the real dessert was the budding relationship between Oz (Chris Klein) and Heather (Mena Suvari) and the struggling relationship between Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Vicky (Tara Reid). Here, the film flirts with what little wisdom it has to offer: that sex will not make a meaningful relationship, but it can certainly break one.

Although it struggles with its sophomoric plot, American Pie recovers a bit because of its good ensemble cast. The best performances, in my opinion, are turned in by Eugene Levy, Mena Suvari, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, and Natasha Lyonne, in that order. Levy, of SCTV fame, is particularly funny as a dad trying to cope with his son's hormone battle.

Sure I laughed at some of the gags. I'm sure most of you will find this film to be funny at some level or another, even more than funny at times. Yet, in my opinion, we could use a lot less of the outrageous Porkies humor and a lot more of the subtle humor of The Graduate.

© 1999 Jim Chastain II