After THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY hit big in 1998, raunchy sex comedies became bankable and popular. While many are sophomoric, the original AMERICAN PIE is surprising in how it lets its characters grow. The plot is like so many other films like it. Friends make a pact to get laid. But how it handles that pact comes from someplace very real.
Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs, EIGHT BELOW) has little experience in the sex department and his many experiments have been embarrassing to say the least. Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein, ROLLERBALL) is a jocky lacrosse player who doesn't know how to talk to girls. Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR) has been dating Vicky (Tara Reid, URBAN LEGEND) for some time, but she wants their first time to be special and he's getting frustrated. Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas, HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE) is an eccentric who enlists his free-spirited friend Jessica (Natasha Lyonne, SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS) to help him get girls. These are the four friends who will vow to loose their virginity before prom.
Jim tries his luck hooking up with the hot Eastern European exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK), but as things go for Jim, they never turn out as he planned. Making his fumblings more humiliating is the good intentioned, but awkward, advice of his dad (Eugene Levy, SPLASH). But is he desperate enough to take the band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan, TV's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)? Oz has a embarrassing date with a college girl, which makes him decide that he needs to expand his horizons and stop listening to his piggish friend Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott, THE RUNDOWN), whose mom (Jennifer Coolidge, BEST IN SHOW) came to define the term MILF. He develops a crush on the sweet choirgirl Heather (Mena Suvari, AMERICAN BEAUTY) when he learns that talking to a girl helps.
While the film is made up of a bunch of humiliating sex gags, the boys learn something about sex and relationships along the way. Each one learns a different lesson and each story encapsulates the various common experiences of young people and their first sexual encounters. In its frank discussion about sex, it address how hormonal young men obsess over the act, but eventually learn how to handle it in their own way.
Now back to the humiliating sex gags. They are a collection of some of the funniest put to screen. Writer Adam Herz took the sex comedies of the '80s and weaved in fleshed out characters that were common to John Hughes films. He also pushed the gross out factor. Director Paul and Chris Weitz made their directorial debut on the film, impressing by keeping multiple storylines interesting and keeping the laughs coming.
While much of the acting is sketchy at best, Biggs, Hannigan, and Scott's work still holds up. Scott made Stifler a type and did it well. He's been too pigeonholed into that character ever since though. While better acting from the Oz, Heather, Kevin and Vicky roles could have made the film more emotional, the film is at its best in the comedic elements anyway, which is where Biggs shines. He's forever known as the pie guy for good reason.
AMERICAN PIE has set the bar for teen sex comedies. The film mixes very funny gags with some well-defined characters. In doing so it captures the awkward feelings that surround losing one's virginity, but does it in a human way. While lesser sex comedies ridicule the awkward for being awkward, AMERICAN PIE tries to laugh along with its characters, because we can relate. I'm not talking from experience or anything, but I know some guys I know.
Buy "American Pie" on DVD Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
