Crude But Incredibly Funny

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2012)

American Pie (1999)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Four high school seniors make an agreement that they're going to have each others back so that they can lose their virginity before prom night. That's pretty much all the storyline one needs to know and I still remember when this movie came out people said it was just riding on the coat tails of "gross-out" comedies like THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY but looking back on the film after all these years there's no denying that it's really one of the best comedies to come from that era. I think the film works best as a throwback to those teen sex comedies of the 1980s like PORKY'S and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. The movie benefits from some gross out humor but a film needs more than just that and what's at the core of this movie are some wonderful performances and a realistic story about friendships in high school. With that said, no one should be expecting some heart-warming moments because there really aren't any and that's a good thing. Instead we just have one outrageous set-up after another and yes the majority of them are in the vulgar manor. This includes having your parents catching you masturbating, streaming yourself and a girl via the web and of course the infamous pie sequence. One could be party a killer and say most of this would have been avoided had the character just learned to lock a door but that would just take away the fun. The movie goes for a lot of jokes but the thing is that most of them work. I'd say the only one that doesn't is a sequence involving a toilet but this is just a small portion of the film. Another major benefit is that the cast members are so good with each of them really making their character something memorable. Jason Biggs, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Chris Klein, Seann William Scott, Tara Reid, Alyson Hannigan and Shannon Elizabeth are all extremely good and help make the film. Eugene Levy also deserves a lot of credits because his reaction shots are some of the funniest bits in the movie. American PIE was obviously influenced by certain movies but it's never a rip-off and instead it just delivers a great, if at times disgusting, time.