Routine situational-comedy, which seems to want to say something although isn't sure what or how to do it

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2017)

The cultural and sexual revolution is referred to as such because it revolutionised, aside from certain other things, attitudes towards culture and sex. Where it hit in the 1960's, among other places, was the United States of America and "American Pie" is less-so a commentary on why we-are-what-we -are than it is a reasonably funny depiction of a group of people living their lives in such a fashion BECAUSE of what preceded them. If GK Chesterton once said that "...there is a certain fury in sex that we cannot afford to inflame, and that a certain mystery and awe must always surround it if we are to remain sane" then Paul & Chris Weitz's 1999 film should seem like a kind of antithesis to this.
Indeed, I do wonder if the central characters in "American Pie" even know of the origins of the world outlooks they each possess. One of them, Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), seems to cut more of an esoteric figure than the others, or perhaps that's just because the others know less of the world than it first seems. Despite his nature, however, not even Finch seems to know why there exists a sudden rush amongst a class of youngsters to lose their virginity before the termination of an American high school year.
Writing in "Unspeakable Things", British social commentator Laurie Penny describes sex as 'something you do' - not as something '...you wait around for someone to do TO you', before going on to describe her virginity as something she 'shook off' at the first opportunity she had – as if it was an annoying bout of influenza. "American Pie" captures this whole ethos somewhat well – the notion that abstinence is virtuous, or that sex is something else other than mere recreation, rears up in drips and drabs but not enough to convince us it's what the makers actually think.
"American Pie" depicts a diverse set of boys: one speaks Latin and drinks expensive coffee. Another, Chris (Chris Klein), is a bulky lacrosse player. Kevin already has a girlfriend; is close to sex anyway and is granted, I think, the deliberate privilege in this regard of being the best looking of the five while Stifler (Seann William-Scott) treads an uneasy line between unfriendly lout and colleague you cannot afford not to have. The last, Jim (Jason Biggs), we sense is some kind of lead – his father was, we feel, present when much of the aforementioned cultural revolution unfolded and was amongst the first to break the taboos. His willingness for Jim to follow in his footsteps hits a strange spot between curiously heart rendering and absolutely deplorable. Depending on your politics, of course...
Each of the boys is in their final year at your standard American high-school, but none of them have had sex yet except for Stifler, who seems to want to have it again, although is hindered by this fresh swarm of vultures now surrounding what was once his easy prey. They induce an agreement between them that they will press to lose their virginities before the year is up and a graduation prom takes place. How they go about doing this involves a diverse set of approaches and circumstances, neither really overwhelming the other and each different enough to entertain us reasonably well.
One character eventually only finds what he is looking for when he gives up all hope and accidentally finds it right under his nose – a process of maturing enough not to especially fall into a trap of hedonism and rather to take things as they come. Chris only joins a soppy choir group to score one of the many women who sing in it, although is depicted as to actually coming to care for one of the girls there.
Much of the gross out humour involving toilets and the consumption of bodily fluid is unwelcome, but then it always is in these films – writers never learn. Fortunately, these instances are rare and one can feel struck ultimately by how reigned in its material actually is. For instance, when the film finally bares a pair of breasts, we feel as if we should flinch because there has not been the cascade of nudity and 'raunch' we were perhaps expecting - the likes of which others in its genre have succumbed to.
Does one really recommend "American Pie"? Not especially: it is episodic and often quite disgusting, but it is not a film one can easily despise. Is it really a film which, hysterical conservative shrieking aside, really sends young men and women out to 'get laid' as soon as possible? It seems to present sex, or the pursuit of sex, as something frustrating; bumpy and ultimately superfluous to a good, hearty relationship with someone whose time you genuinely enjoy, but it seems nonplussed about people going out to get it anyway. The film is a long way from being a triumph of conservatism, but it does not seem to argue the case for the other side quite as manically as I remember it doing.