I just don't know...

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2000)

Why is it so hard to really say why American Pie just didn't do it for me? My expectations, perhaps? Of course, like any movie you have a feel for what you hope to _get_ out of the movie right before the lights dim...I was expecting something outrageous and over-the-top, especially because I had the Unrated DVD starting to spin. I mean, this cut couldn't even land an 'R' rating. South Park did (although certain MPAA members came out later "regretting" their decision to shy away from the dreaded NC-17), so I was expecting something on par. Truth is, American Pie bogied, if not three-putted. It had a throw away message (sort of like South Park, but less campy and almost taken seriously, a definite negative) about the virtues of beating down peer pressure. It had forgettable characters and a weak script. But that's hardly why I was excited to see it...I wanted pure, unadulterated, NC-17 teetering outrageousness...and I didn't get that.
The mutilated pie was funny. And I never really thought about how useful a flute might be...but that was about it...all the gags seemed so...forced. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to take the movie seriously or not, and that's its inherent flaw. If you're going for the push-the-envelope gusto, by all means strap on the booster rockets and GO (which, by the way, was a far better movie chronicling the outrageousness of teen angst.). Jim and the gang were so...serious, and even if that was the intent, it wasn't very amusing as it unfolded. For example, as Jim consistently struck out with a man on first, I really didn't care...it didn't HURT, hit the brotherly sympathy nerve, like the answering machine scene in Swingers. All the characters were positively dull and terribly zero-dimensional.
I don't mean to analyze this movie to death although I probably just did, which makes me something of a hypocrite. The bottom line is that it's supposed to transcend critical review and just be damn funny, no more and no less. But it wasn't and that's what made me wonder, Why?